The Alternative
by TacoSwimmer
Summary: Only Ellie had gotten bit, and the two set out to make the most out of her numbered days. Who would've thought that luck was finally on her side; but unfortunately for her, it would eventually run out. Join Ellie and Riley as they struggle through the remains of a post-pandemic world. Using their determination and endurance to brave the events and hardships soon to face them.
1. Reconnecting

**Chapter One: Reconnecting**

**This story picks up in the beginning of Left Behind. This time though, only Ellie is bitten. Riley, who was still oblivious to her immunity tries to find ways to spend one of the final days with her best friend. But when she figures out that she's immune, their relationship goes up to a whole new level. Unfortunately for the both of them, their fates would soon change their lives forever.**

_Best served after playing both the Main Campaign and the DLC._  
_Reading their comic, The Last of Us: American Dreams is also strongly recommended before reading my first ever fanfiction :)_

_**WARNING:** Don't like Ellie & Riley's relationship? Then simply don't read, this story contains content that will be considered uncomfortable for those certain people. Thank you._

* * *

I woke up, my body was covered in sweat and I could feel someone covering my neck.

"Aaaagh!" I yelled, I instinctively pushed off the Infected and grabbed my switchblade from my pillow. As I got up I turned to face my attacker and finish him off, but instead I saw a girl. Her face was beaming wholly at me.

"_Riley?_" I gasped, still holding out the knife.

And there she was, sprawled on the floor; her dark skin shone brightly against the moonlight. I could hear the raindrops pelt against my window softly. It was early in the morning and I was awoken by the last person I'd expected to see.

"Ow... I landed on my hip." she laughed, wobbling as she stood up.

"What the hell? I thought I was bitten." I rubbed my neck as I felt a ghost bite imprinted on my skin, shuddering as I pictured the thought. Riley showed off her toothy grin, "Yeah I know, it was kind of awesome."

I stared at her, lowering the knife as I scanned her figure. She was wearing a grey top with a faded blue jacket, her dark hair was tied to a bun. Riley glanced at the weapon I held tightly.

"You're not gonna kill me, are you?" she questioned in a playful way. I let out a breath and placed the switchblade under my pillow.

Questions raced in my head, _where the fuck has she been these past weeks?_ A feeling of anger heated in me as I realized that I've been left to worry about her for who knows how many days

"I haven't seen you... in I don't even know how long." I sighed. I didn't know what to feel, happy because she wasn't dead or mad because she ditched me without an explanation.

"Forty-five days" she quickly replied, "well, forty-six technically..." Riley placed her hands in her pockets in an awkward way. "Wanna know what I've been up to?" she smirked.

_Unbelievable_.

"All this time, I thought you were dead." I shook my head lightly.  
"Yeah..." she said, her eyes darted at the floor, and silence broke through the room. As I was about to speak up, Riley took out a chain around her neck. "Here, look." she handed the pendant to me.

I examined it carefully, it took me a couple of seconds to realize what I was holding. My eyes grew larger as I glared at the Firefly symbol carved in the metal.

"No way." I gasped.  
Riley smiled and checked the room, babbling about something I didn't bother to listen to. I flipped the chain to it's side and read the next text.

___**Riley Abel, 000129**_

"You're a Firefly." I turned to face her, she shrugged casually and studied the room with interest.

"You still have it up." she whispered sentimentally. I viewed her stance, she was holding the photo we took together days before she left; during my birthday. I analyzed the pendant and groaned realizing that a soldier could pop up any minute.

I took large strides to the door and opened it, looking at both hallways to check for guards.

"What are you doing?" she asked.  
I closed the door frustratedly, careful to not make too much of a noise. "What am I doing?" I echoed, "I'm making sure I don't get caught with a Firefly in my room." Riley sighed and faced me as she crossed her arms. "Relax. There are no soldiers on the entire floor."

Another silence broke through.

_Yay, more time for me to think!_

If she assumed that I was going to forgive her that easily for the things she said to me before, then I wasn't buying it.

"Here, congrats." I said coldly as I handed the chain back to Riley.  
"Hey-" she gripped my hand gently before I could yank it back.

We gazed at each other for a while, as I locked my eyes into hers I focused on our hands. She held them with such softness yet I couldn't move away. I disregarded my feelings, it was quickly replaced with the bitter emotions I had for her.

"Are we cool?" she asked, letting go of her grip.

I looked at her in disbelief.  
"_Are we cool?__"_ I repeated in a rhetorical tone.

Riley closed her eyes and let out a breath.

"I disappeared and you're mad-"  
"Psh." I retorted.  
"- _and_ I owe you an explanation." she concluded. She walked towards the chair and grabbed my jeans that rested on it. "Look, let's get outta here and I'll tell you all about it." I could tell that just being exposed outside of the safe zone she couldn't risk being caught by someone else.

I looked out of my window, it was still raining and the sun was coming up. I didn't know if Riley forgot that I wasn't going to obey her orders that easily.

"It's almost morning - and I have military drills. You know, where we learn how to kill Fireflies?" I said half joking. She rolled her eyes and tossed me the jeans.

"Put some pants on and let's go." Riley ordered promptly, I grunted and sat on the bedside as I put them on effortlessly. Resisting was futile, and I knew that too damn well.

"I'm so dumb." I scolded myself.  
"C'mon," she said, opening the door.

"When have we ever gotten into trouble?"

* * *

Riley and I headed out of the building. It was too early in the morning for any soldiers to pop up; even if there were any, they wouldn't be bothered.

"So, any way of you telling me exactly where we're going?" I asked plainly, we climbed a ladder that leaned on a wall of an abandoned building, the rain poured on me softly, it was kind of relaxing.

"It's a surprise." she grunted as she clambered to get on top of the roof. I climbed up without ease, looking at her confidently with smug.

"Damn, have you been working out?" she smirked with exhaustion.  
"Please." I scoffed and walked ahead of her, the sky was gray and the sun was hidden behind the foggy clouds. It was quite a sight for a shithole like this.

As I kept walking, still gazing up at the gloomy sky, I heard Riley's footsteps behind me, going faster and louder by the second. By the time I could look back, her shoulder collided with mine.

"Hey- what the fuck?!" I yelled, taken aback by the force of the impact. Riley, who was now ahead of me, stopped and turned around, she pulled out her hand and showed her my ponytail, teasingly holding it with her index finger.

_Wait, MY ponytail?_

I groped my untied hair frantically, holding it back to a ponytail position with one hand.

"Riley! Give it back!" I yelped, feeling embarrassed.  
"You gotta outrun me first!" she winked, jumping onto another a building

I groaned and followed her, careful to not slip on any puddles on the next roof. My hair was bouncing wildly, constantly being tossed around by the wind and rain.

Finally, we reached ground level, I managed to corner her in a dead end. I curved my lips slyly as I approached her.  
"What are you gonna do, blow one of your bubbles and pop one in my eye?" Riley laughed.

"If you start begging I'll let you go." I offered.  
"As if."

"Well, if you insist." I tackled her with all the power I could muster, grunting, I managed to pin her down on the floor with both our hands interlocked, pushing with force.

"Give up?" I asked.  
"Never!"

I then proceeded to open my mouth, letting a bit of drool seep out.  
"Oh my God, Ellie, no." Riley pleaded, trying so hard to break away from our grip.

The drool was inches away from her face, I wasn't afraid for it to go any further. Reluctantly, she started to beg.

"Okay, okay! I give up! Just don't let your saliva touch my fucking face!" she wailed.

I let go of our grip and she broke free. I sucked the drool back in, making disturbingly wild noises while doing so.

Riley flinched.  
"You're disgusting." she tossed me back the ponytail and I grinned widely.

We both laughed, _laughed_. That was the first time I cracked up in ages, I started to realize how absolutely _miserable_ I was without Riley. Nevertheless, I was still frustrated with her. I mentally shrugged as I tied my hair back in place and exited the alleyway, we arrived at a block and started walking on the curb.

Suddenly, Riley and I heard the sound of what seemed to be a tank wheeling towards us.

"Shit, we gotta hide." she whispered. We searched for a way out but with no luck.  
"We have to run to the other side of this road, Ellie."  
I glared at her "Are you insane?"  
"Well, do you have a better idea?"

I looked at the road and took a deep breath, the tank was several meters away from us, if we could run fast enough we could get to the opposite end without being seen.

"Screw it, let's go." I ordered

And so we ran, we sprinted along the cracked pavement with the water kicking at our heels. As we reached the side Riley found a window that we could slip in to.

"Hurry, up here!" she huffed, lifting up the window. I slid in, the room was damp with enough light to creep in, Riley followed shortly, making sure the window was closed.

Panting, I could see the light of the tank pass us by.

We were safe.  
Silence broke through again, the only sounds were those of our breaths.

…  
…

"Hey... Riley?" I piped in, breaking the ambiance.  
"Yeah?" she said

"Why did the survivors cross the road?"

Riley frowned.

"To get to the other side!" I finished, chuckling.

She sighed as she scratched her head annoyingly.  
"You're really fucking corny, I hope you know that."

* * *

**And that concludes the first chapter, thank you for reading!**


	2. Bliss

**Chapter Two: Bliss**

**URGENT NOTE: I skipped, heh, sorry! We are fast-forwarding and picking up after the argument Ellie and Riley had at Raja's Arcade.  
Yes, that moment you've been waiting for is in this chapter, so buckle up!  
**

* * *

"Goddammit." I whispered, banging my foot into the old arcade machine.

Mixed emotions were filling me, they were piling up inside of me, one by one. I felt like exploding.

I wanted to scream.

But I couldn't.  
I needed to talk to Riley.

My mind was set, I opened the double doors and checked around,

"Where the hell did she go?" I mumbled.

I called her name twice, no response.  
Fucking hell.

As I went around the fallen debris, I thought about the fight we had nearly 2 months ago and how much it pained me, and here we are now, almost in the same situation.

This time though, Riley's not coming back.

Sadness and anger simmered in my head, I opened the doors and was greeted by a room full of mannequins.  
_Eeugh_, creepy.

My mind was still wandering off, _why was this even happening?_ Her leaving was inevitable, but it shouldn't end like this. Why did she have to be so fucking stubborn?

As I walked there was a mannequin that seemed to be looking at me in a judging way. Annoyed, I went up to it.

"The fuck are you looking at?" I gritted my teeth as I shoved it backwards, the limbs collapsed and scattered across the floor.

I sighed satisfyingly, I had to let off the steam somewhere.  
Eventually I found the door and entered. Sure enough, she was there.

"You ever seen anything like it?" she murmured, her back facing me, she was taking in all the sights of the store.

_Stop changing the topic, Riley._

"Are we just done talking?"  
"I don't know. Are we?" she replied curtly.

Nope, we've just started.

"You don't get to be pissed at me. I'm pissed off at _you._"  
"For what?" she quickly replied. "Asking you what you think?" her voice was raised subconsciously.

I glared at her, mouth agape.

"When have you ever cared about what I think_?"_ I argued, emotions pouring out of my words,

_"_We were _good__."_

We gazed at each other for a while.

"...We were _better_ than good. And then you told me to _fuck off_ and then you just up and vanish."

I looked down at the floorboards, "This... whole day..." I trailed off.

I sighed and stopped, careful to not spill my emotions.  
"You feel guilty?" I looked back at her, "You want an out? I-I'm giving it to you."

Riley continued her gaze upon me, "I'm supposed to be holed up on the other side of town, I get caught as a Firefly, I'm _dead._ Guilt didn't make me cross a city full of soldiers, Ellie."

_Then what did, Riley? Tell me._

"And yeah," she continued, "I did some shit that I don't know how to take back but... I'm trying."

I swallowed hard, the words she spat harmfully at me from before had damaged me more than she could ever imagine. _She meant everything to me_, even though I deny those feelings I can't run away from it. And it pained me so much to see her leave.

"Speaking of..." Riley muttered, taking off her backpack.

She threw it on the floor; clattering, I saw a pair of bright neon green and orange toys.

"...those water guns you've been dreaming of?"  
"I nearly got shot for these. _Surprise_." she said in an unenthusiastic manner.

I turned to face the water guns on the floor, I grabbed the two of them and almost instantly I cracked a smile. There was water in them, how did Riley manage to get these without me noticing?

"Okay," I said, "First...I'm gonna destroy you." I handed her the other water gun,

"And then we'll talk."

Riley's gaze remained, and I could sense that she was thankful. Her playful smirk lit up after what seemed to be an eternity "You're about to get drenched." she teased.

"Let's see what you got, Firefly-girl"

Minutes passed, then it seemed like hours. The mall was our playground, we did almost everything here. My skin was drenched in water and I could hear Riley uncontrollably giggling every now and then. For a while, it was good.

But I knew I had to go, and Riley needed to leave soon.  
_I hated for her to leave._

I guess some things have to go the way you don't want them to, I thought.  
As I was plunged deep into thinking, I hadn't notice that Riley had snuck up on me. Alarmed by the water, I squealed in terror.

"Aw man!" I laughed, wiping my eyes.  
"Yeah! I got you! I won, I won, I won!" Riley cheered, throwing her water gun in the air.

"Nah, you just got lucky."  
"_Luck_?"

"Yep."

"HAH! You wanna play again?" she asked with a tiny bit of sparkle in her eyes. A feeling of guilt came to me as I turned down her offer.

"I do, I just..."  
"...You gotta go back..." Riley completed the sentence for me, her eyes were now downcast.

"I gotta go back." I muttered softly.

"Okay, fine." she said plainly. "Can I at least walk you home?" I willingly complied and we both walked off to get our backpacks.

We were silent as we walked, I felt distant. Yet somehow I could relate to what she was feeling, the feeling of sadness when you knew it could be the last time you could ever see a person whom you cared about. I was just afraid that Riley didn't see me in the same way that I saw her. But I needed to make these last moments count.

It was now or never.

"Hey, so..." I said awkwardly, Riley turned to me slowly, gripping her water gun tightly.  
"I said it like an asshole but... I totally meant it."

"You should go." I paused, "And this is something you've wanted for... you know. Forever, so, who am I to stop you."

Riley looked at me and grunted softly.  
"The one person that can."

I didn't expect this response, but I knew if I begged her to stay it would just be awkward for both of us.  
"Nooo, please _don't_ go, I'll be _so_ miserable without youuu_."_ I wailed jokingly, Riley snorted and crossed her arms.

"I'll be fine." I lied, "And you'll be fine. And we'll see each other again." This kind of cliché saying gave me a glint of hope. Because to be honest, I would've done anything to see her again.

Riley looked at the pair of water guns and without hesitation, she handed them to me.  
"You should keep these, not gonna do me any good."

Thankful, I placed them in my backpack. They were pretty hard to fit in, but I managed.

"You still lug that Walkman around?" Riley asked out of topic, but not questioning, I responded back.

"Always."  
"Let me see it." she said

I handed it to her shortly after, "Here."

"What's in it?"

"That tape you gave me." I answered.  
Riley giggled, nudging my shoulder.  
"You really will be miserable without me"  
"Shut up..." I groaned sheepishly, my face was blushing because I knew it was true.

"Leave that, follow me." she ordered, walking off while still holding my audio tape.

"What're we doin'?" I questioned interestingly.  
"You'll see."

We reached to another part of the department store, it was full of radios and cd players. Riley walked up to one and connected a cord to the tape. After a while she pressed 'Play' and the music came out of the radio like magic.

"Yeah!" Riley beamed, snapping her fingers to the tune, she got up on the glass display and started to dance.

"What are you – really?" I couldn't help but smile.  
"C'mere!" she wailed, swaying her hips from side to side.

I groaned.

"Get your ass up here."  
"So stupid..." I mumbled, blushing.

And then the singer starts,

_People say that we don't know  
What love is or how to make it grow  
But I don't know if all that's true  
'Cause you got me and baby I got you  
Oh babe_

"Come on!" Riley goaded me as she grabbed my hands and we both started to dance foolishly to the music. I laughed uncontrollably as I twisted and turn and clapped my hands to the beat. The lyrics again filled my ears,

_I got you babe,  
I got you babe_

_This day was a fucking rollercoaster_, I thought. In a matter of seconds I began to recall the fun chain of events that happened today, the Halloween store, the carousel, the joke book, the photobooth, the arcade, and now this. Only Riley was capable of making me be the happiest yet she could tear me down to my lowest.

It suddenly hit me.

I couldn't afford to lose her, she was the only person I had.

Not again.

"Here-" Riley interrupted my thinking as she grabbed my arms.  
But she sensed it.  
"What is it?" she asked soothingly.

"Hey..."  
"What's wrong?"

I didn't notice how close we were, but it didn't matter. There were millions of thoughts racing in my head, and I didn't know what to say. So I just went with what seemed to be the most appropriate.

"Don't go." I pleaded softly

She looked at me, her soft brown eyes on my green ones. A feeling of connection came to me as like before. But this time I knew that she was feeling the same thing, Riley grabbed her Firefly tag from her neck and tore it off. She tossed it on the ground effortlessly, smirking back at me.

Without thinking, I closed my eyes and leaned in.

Our two lips touched, and it was absolutely amazing, I had no idea what made me do it, but I wanted to. I _needed_ to.

A few seconds passed but it felt like forever, it was as if time actually froze around us.  
I drew back and smiled uncontrollably. Riley was stunned, but she grinned as well.

Suddenly, I realized what had just happened and blushed completely red.

"Sorry." I whispered.

But Riley just stood there, still smiling.  
"For what?" she replied softly.

We gazed upon each other again, and in that moment,

_I knew I loved her_.

* * *

_**tht was so cheesi**_

**eli pls**

_**ur dorkiness is reeking evryhwer**_


	3. Bitten

**Chapter Three: Bitten**

* * *

My cheeks were flushed, never had I experienced something so sensual and wonderful. It felt like a new beginning, Riley had just given up her Firefly status, and for what?

To stay with me.

The thought of it made my stomach turn,  
I shook my head tiredly, looking up at Riley "What do we do now?"

She bit her lip, "We'll figure it out. But, I don't think Marlene's gonna go for it-"

"Wait." I interrupted her.

The sound of low moans filled the room, my eyes widened in fear as I knew what was coming.

_Shit, runners!  
_The radio must've been blaring it through the speakers! A creature appeared; it's rotting skin and molding eyes turned to both of us, it growled and sprinted to the display case.

"Riley!" I yelled while backing off, she took out her gun and carefully aimed for the runner's head.

**BANG! **The noise pierced through the air, I flinched as I saw the monster's head explode as he fell down.

"Holy crap." I breathed out.

"C'mon, we don't have much time!" Riley said as she jumped off. We ran to the nearest exit, the moans of the Infected were behind us, I could see the shadows coming closer each second.

I was terrified. But I didn't have time to think, the only important thing right now was to get the fuck out of there.

We ran to another room, Riley grabbed a crate and blocked the entrance.  
"Quick, barricade the door!" she ordered. I helped her push the crate, the speakers in the room kept playing the song, as if haunting us.

_I got you babe,  
I got you babe_

"Ellie! Let's go!"

I snapped out of my trance and followed Riley, she opened a door to a hallway but then closed it immediately.  
"Shit." she hissed as the moans grew louder, the fists of the creatures pounded at the door, trying hard to break it open.

"Okay, uh, Plan B!" I pointed at the rolling shutters.

Riley grabbed the metal shutters and lifted them with force, "Ellie, give me a hand with this" she panted.  
I did as told and it took a while for me to crawl in, I managed to find something to prop it up with so that Riley could sneak in.

"That'll do, let's go." she said

I nodded quickly and we sprinted off into another direction, the Infected slithered through the gap and were chasing us again. Everywhere I turned I found Runners blocking the way; we were surrounded.

"Jump off the railing!" Riley yelled, I landed quite a few feet below and found myself having to jump another meter long gap. She was already on the other side, waiting for me.

I took a deep breath, and ran for a quick boost. I lifted my feet off the floor and outstretched my arms towards the platform, I landed with the lower part of my body dangling off.

"Ellie..!" Riley shouted.

"I'm good, I'm good. Just keep going!" I pushed myself up and both of us sprinted across. The Infected couldn't be able to make that jump.

But as I looked to my right I heard the footsteps of more Runners.  
_Fucking hell._

"There's an open window straight ahead, come on!" Riley said, hopping over a small fence. I followed her hurriedly and we both climbed to the window.

As I scaled the scaffolding where Riley was waiting for me, I felt it starting to fall on me.  
"Oh god-" I squealed.  
I fell on the lower platform and landed on a puddle from the impact, my back felt an immense pain for a few seconds.

"Ellie!"

I moaned in pain, gritting my teeth.  
It was quite short-lived, the next thing I knew I was being tackled by another Runner.

_What a wonderful day it was._

"Get... off...!" I squirmed, the monster was biting and clawing the air furiously, wanting so bad to get a piece of me.

"Riley!" I screamed in terror, I grabbed the switchblade from my pocket and tried to stab his neck.  
As I struggled to do so, she managed to jump down just in time. Her gun aimed at the Infected's head.

**BANG!**

And all went silent.

* * *

...

...

I stared at the corpse, it's mouth was hanging open. I shuddered and turned to Riley, exhaustion filling my body.  
"I think it's clear." I said, looking around for any more Infected.

..

..

But Riley didn't respond, she didn't smile or move away, she gripped the gun tightly; her veins were bulging from the force.

Her eyes were fixed on my right arm.

"Are you okay?" I asked, afraid to hear her answer.

"Ellie..." she whispered, eyes still glued on it

"Ellie, your arm."

I gulped and slowly I traced my eyes on my right limb, it was stinging and covered in blood.  
In shock, I dropped my knife.

_Clatter, clatter._

..

..

..

_Oh my god._

I wiped the blood off with my hand, and it revealed a full bite.  
"No..." I whispered.

The red liquid started to seep out from the wound.

"No, no, no, no!" I refused to believe it, I wiped the blood off again and again, hoping that it would disappear from my sight. It was no use.

_I was bitten_

_..  
.._

I was going to die.

I felt myself slowly withering into nothing, I was on my knees, my eyes were downcast.  
_Why? Why did this happen? I didn't understand, what the hell did I do that made me deserve this?_

I clenched my fists.  
_Why did it have to end like this? Right after I thought that everything was going to be okay, had my luck run out?_

I grabbed my switchblade, and stared at the corpse that bit me.  
I couldn't control myself, I lifted my arm and yelled loudly.

"Fuck! Fuck, _fuck, fuck, fuck_!" I screamed as I repeatedly stabbed the body.  
"Fuck you!"  
"Fuck the world!"

"**Fuck everything!"**

I was hysterical, each stab wasn't enough to satisfy me, the sound of my knife replayed over and over in my head.

_Shlick  
Shlick  
Shlick  
Shlick_

"Ellie...!" Riley finally spoke up, her voice was crumbling.

But I didn't listen to her, I went mad. I stabbed the corpse faster, still yelling.

"Ellie!" Riley shouted, she grabbed my arms from the back, trying to stop me from doing anything else.  
"Don't fucking touch me!" I screamed, trying to kick away. We were sitting down now, well, sort of.

"Ellie, pull yourself together!" she said calmly, her grip didn't tighten nor loosen; I squirmed to break free.

"I said don't touch me!" I shrieked, but she ignored my madness. Riley turned to face me, her face worn out with distraught.

"Look at me, please." she whispered, her tone soothed me a little.

And so I did.  
We gazed upon each other once again, her soft brown eyes on my crazy green ones.

Those eyes.

I might never be able to see them ever again.

And the thought of that crushed me.

It crushed every single future opportunity for us.  
We would never be able to grow from this crazy relationship.  
We would never be able to do the things we've always wanted to do together.

And the worst of all,  
_I would never see her again_**.**

"Riley..." I sobbed, tears flowing down my cheeks.

"Shh, shh, it's okay." she hushed, rocking the two of us back and forth gently.  
I cried softly, Riley embraced me comfortingly. The two us were entwined, unbelievably, it was peaceful.

I sniffed loudly and looked up at her, her eyes never left mine.

"..Riley?" I mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"Don't go." I pleaded softly, burying my face on her shoulder.  
Those words have been said before, but this time. I really meant it.

"I'm not leaving you, Ellie." she assured me, placing her chin on the top of my head.

"_I'm not letting you go."  
_

* * *

**So basically I published three chapters in a single day, I don't really know what to make of that.  
Many thanks for reading! Chapter Four will be released soon.  
-Taco**


	4. Comfort

**Chapter Four: Comfort**_  
_

* * *

We sat there in silence.

…

…

…

…

I was still in her arms, it felt safe and welcoming but it still didn't change the fact that I had a bite on my arm. My lips were trembling furiously from crying.

I stopped embracing her, I let myself sit comfortably and the both of us were restfully leaning on a side.

I tried to speak up, but then I realized how dry my throat was  
I needed to drink, I remembered having a water bottle inside my-

_Shit._

We left our backpacks.

"Oh no..." I muttered, covering my face with my hands.  
_We left the Walkman too._

Riley noticed me worrying and faced me "Something wrong?"  
"Aside from the fact that I'm bitten, no, everything's good." I whispered sarcastically, voice still dry.

Riley sighed "Well, we need to get you some water, you sound like a dying whale. Don't you have one in your backpack?"

I turned to her, frowning, she was missing the whole point.  
She was puzzled, "What?"

I crossed my arms. Still frowning.

"Oh." Riley said "Right."  
"You can be such a genius sometimes."

She rolled her eyes tiredly, "Psh, you're the one to judge."  
I nudged her shoulder playfully and examined my arm. It was pretty painful, but it didn't really matter, I was going to die anyway.

"Ellie." Riley said, breaking the silence "We gotta clean that wound."

"Why? It doesn't even matter anymore. _I'm bitten_." I grumbled, allowing the pain to flow through my body.

"You know that I can't stand to see you like this. Besides, stopping the bleeding might buy us some extra time." she answered with the same sparkle in her eye. I looked at her, and instantly I was taken back to our kiss in the mall.

_Best moment of my life? Yes._

"I'll go grab our backpacks, I got a bandage in there, don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." Riley stood up and stretched a little, her boyish yet delicate figure shining against the setting sun.

I goggled at her, not knowing how to respond  
But before she could go off, I grabbed her arm.

"Wait," I said with a lump in my throat.

Riley set her eyes on me.

"You better come back." I bit my lip, hard.  
"I will." she smiled faintly and walked off. I watched her disappear into the mall, the Infected have probably calmed down by now.

I hoped I didn't turn too early.  
I let out a breath and closed my eyes, awaiting for Riley's return.

* * *

**Riley's POV:**

The song stopped playing, which meant that there shouldn't be anymore Infected shitting on me for the rest of the day. In just a couple of minutes I reached the department store, the lights were on, and I could spot the Walkman on top of the radio.

I grabbed it and placed it in my pocket, I turned around and there stood the display case.

The place where we danced.

But more importantly, where we kissed.

I played the scene out again. The way her soft lips pressed against mine, I still can't wrap my head around it. _So does that mean she likes me? _I thought._ I hope she does. Or maybe it was just by accident, it could've been platonic. Maybe she was going to do it on the cheek but it looked gross so she did it on the lips instead._

I shook my head, _you're really pathetic, Riley._

I found my Firefly pendant and reluctantly picked it up, a souvenir for old time's sake.

Reminded that I had to get back to Ellie, I quickly grabbed our backpacks and lugged them all the way back outside. It probably took twenty minutes but when I got there, Ellie was sound asleep.

Strands of hair fell delicately into place in the sides of her ears, the rays of the sun landed perfectly on her.

She was beautiful.

I didn't want to wake her up just yet, I set our two backpacks beside her and grabbed the bandage from it. Carefully, I raised her right arm and started to cover the bite; oddly enough, it still looked fresh and only few signs of infection were showing. The effects should've started hours ago.

As I wrapped the bandage around, Ellie started to talk in her sleep.  
"Riley..." she mumbled, moving her head.

My cheeks turned awfully red, _was she dreaming about me?_ Wow, I couldn't help but crack a smile. Her auburn hair shone vibrantly that it seemed like an aura was forming around her head.

Suddenly, it became clear to me.  
The kiss wasn't platonic

It meant much more than that.

But the day was going to end soon, and this could be the last moments I would ever have with her.

And it pained me so much with the thought of that.

* * *

**Ellie's POV:**

I awoke by the sounds of my own snores, or were they growls?  
The infection sure was taking a while to set in, probably because my immune system was still fighting it off. It had to give up sooner or later.

Due to the dryness in my mouth, I gulped, it felt like I was swallowing sandpaper.

My throat was burning immensely. Whoa, I really needed water. To my convenience, I found my backpack along with Riley's sitting neatly next to me. I grabbed the bottle from mine and chugged it, satisfying my thirst greatly.

My arm has been bandaged, a faded splot of red appeared around the center, I assumed it was my blood. Did Riley do this?  
Speaking of which, where is she?

"Riley?" I stood up.

No answer.

I felt myself tense a little bit, maybe she didn't hear me.  
"Riley!" I shouted loudly, not caring if any Infected heard.

"Over here!" I heard a faint noise to my left, it was her.

I let out a sigh of relief and followed the voice.  
I shortly found her sitting on a pile of crates, her back facing me as she watched the sunset.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked shyly.

She shrugged.

"I'm guessing that's a yes."

I hopped on the crate and sat down, my legs dangling in the air. The bright, orange circle started to sink from the landscape, it was pretty amazing.  
We didn't say anything, but I didn't care. I needed her company and just here sitting beside her was all I needed to assure myself that I would be okay.

I closed my eyes and thought for a second, recalling the events of this day.  
It was probably going to be my last.

"I can't believe this is happening." I said as I touched my bandage softly, watching the warm sky turn dark.  
…

…

…

_No response, huh.  
_I pouted silently and continued on gazing.

After what seemed to be the longest time, I heard Riley sniff. Surprised, I turned to face her.

"This is all my fault." she murmured, wiping off tears from her face.

In sudden bewilderment, I didn't know what to do.

"Hey, no it's not-"  
"Stop. It is."

"If I didn't play that stupid music the Infected would've never came,"  
"If I didn't have to be such a _fucking idiot_ you would've never been-"

"Riley!" I cut her off short, my raised voice startled her.

I took a deep breath,  
"_What's done is done._ You can't really change the things that happened today, it's pointless to cry over it."

She looked at me, she was no longer crying, but her face was full of remorse.  
"...And yeah, I'm bit. I know." I continued, "But I haven't turned yet, have I? We still have time to do the things we've always wanted to do."

"And... the funny thing is..." I mumbled, letting my hand gently fall on hers.

"I think I've fallen for a '_fucking idiot'_ like you" I smiled sheepishly.  
_Whoa, it took the guts to do that didn't it?  
_

Riley stared at me in awe, not knowing what to say.  
"Ellie..." she said as she broke the tension, we both looked into each other's eyes.

…

…

…

"...you're really fucking cheesy."

I broke into laughter, and shortly she chimed in as well. Our hands were still touching, but even I was oblivious to that for the time being.

_It was pretty cheesy._

After a while, it was silent again; the sun had disappeared from the dark sky while tiny, twinkling stars replaced it.

"By the way Ellie," Riley broke the silence.  
"Just because this might be our final day together..."

But before I could ask what she meant, she pulled me in and I was welcomed by the delicate touch of her lips.  
Her eyes were closed; yet mine were still open, wide in shock. Eventually, I slowly drifted them to rest as the kiss intensified.

My arms were now around her neck, and her hands were holding my waist. Our lips moved in rhythm, I felt the birds chirp in the air wildly, as if watching our little scene.

I estimated over two minutes, and we finally drew from each other, inhaling the other's scent deeply.

"Wow." was all I could say.

She smiled sweetly, that was way different from the first one.

Waaaay different.

But it was amazing, and I yearned for more.

Suddenly, the bitter realization kicked in.  
"Wait, I'm bit, remember?"

Riley chuckled, "I don't think it works like that, Ellie."  
"Besides, even if it did infect me..."  
She gripped my hand tightly.

_"...We can just lose our minds together."  
_

..

..

..

I stared at her, "That was the most cheesiest response that I've ever heard in my entire life."  
Riley punched my arm, "Wow. You totally ruined the mood, jackass."

"It was even worse than what I said-"  
"Shut up." she grumbled.

I gave an alluring look, "And what if I don't?"  
Riley caught up with the act and leaned in closer to me, "Then I'll do it myself."

* * *

"Oh man, that one looks like a dinosaur!" I giggled, pointing at the constellation; it formed to look like a T-Rex.

We were lying on the floor, the sky was full of stars. They were glistening and twinkling up above, the moon glimmered and reflected the light back at us.

It was astonishing.

"Yeah, hey Ellie, over there!" Riley pointed, guiding my hand to a line of stars, "That one looks like a stick."  
I giggled. "That's really creative, Riley."

"Fuck off, the other one doesn't even look like a dinosaur."  
"Yes it _does_." I argued.  
"Doesn't."  
"Does."  
"_Doesn't."_

I've had enough of her blabbering, I tackled Riley with all my might as we rolled around on the floor.  
"_Does!_" I yelled, wrestling her as I was on top.

She tried to push me away but to no avail. I showed my dominance by letting out a small snarl, the only effect it did was to make her laugh uncontrollably.  
"You look so cute when you try to act scary." Riley teased.  
I got off of her, "I'm not cute. I'm intimidating as hell."

She tapped my nose softly and chuckled "Whatever you say."  
"Shut up." I said, rubbing my nose childishly. I seized Riley and we wrestled once again, trying our best to strain the other until we came out on top.

Unfortunately for me Riley was able to pin me down on the floor, her hands gripped my wrists tightly to restrict myself from lifting them. After countless of struggles it was no use, she was able to defeat me.

"Impressive, Abel. You've finally beaten me." I said in submission.

She smirked, "No reward? That's lame." Riley released my wrists and sighed, she then proceeded to lie down on the floor beside me with both our upper bodies lifted slightly from the ground, we were using our arms as support.

"I got one for you." I said, nearing her slowly. I pecked the side of her cheek affectionately, a faint blush could be seen on her face shortly thereafter.

"You flirt with me way too much." Riley said sheepishly, shrugging off the fact that I actually kissed her.

I scrunched my nose "This is like my last night, what the fuck did you expect?"

"Ellie, every time you try and flirt I can't help but imagine an embossed text that spells out the word **'desperate'** just hovering over your head."

I punched her shoulder, "Shut up, you enjoy it."  
"I'm forced to enjoy it."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

...

"I wouldn't mind if you kissed me again, though."

* * *

After another hour of teases and flirts, Riley and I laid down on the floor, gazing up at the moon. It's pearly white color looked absolutely beautiful for the night.

"Amazing how people've already been there." Riley whispered, staring at the large circle.  
"The moon?!" I retorted "Bullshit." I have heard of stuff like this, but we never really got the chance to study more about space._  
_

"I'm not joking, Ellie. Winston told me about it. You know how he loves to tell stories about the world before it went to hell."  
"When did it happen?" I asked curiously.

Riley rubbed her chin, "I don't know, probably late 1960s. Can you imagine how cool it could've been out there in space?"  
I thought about it, I never really knew what was out there. Sure it would've been pretty awesome, but space was just a vast and dark place of emptiness.

…

…

…

_Emptiness._

…

…

_Was death like that?_

If you died, was that it? Or was there something like a heaven, where everyone went when they died? Or what if you were Infected, were you trapped there until someone killed you? Maybe you _are_ still alive, it's just that the fungus has taken over your brain, making you completely mindless.

The thought of that was terrifying,  
_Guess I was going to find out soon._

"Riley..." I said, as I stood up.

"What's up?"  
My eyes fell on her, I was quiet.  
"You need to leave."

"What?" she questioned, feeling hurt.  
"Why?"

"No, not in that way" I replied, holding her hand, "I mean, I'm gonna turn soon. And I don't want to hurt you when I do."

Riley was silent, she let go of my hand.  
"I'm staying, Ellie." she finally said.

I sighed and looked at her, "Why are you so persistent?"  
"Because I told you I wouldn't go, no matter what. I'm not going to take my word for granted."

I scratched my head, "Riley... this is different. By tomorrow I'm literally going to turn into one of those things."

She crossed her arms, smiling weakly.  
"Then we'll both be indestructible little monsters together."

I groaned loudly, covering my face with my hands.

"You are _such_ an idiot..."  
"And yet you still like me for it." she winked, and immediately our second kiss flashed in my head; I blushed and she laughed boisterously.

"You're a dick." I muttered.

Riley walked ahead, bringing her backpack along the way.  
"Come on, follow me. It's starting to get chilly, we should go back inside the mall." she ordered.  
"Really? _The mall?_"

"We can camp inside Winston's tent."  
"Even worse." I groaned. I snagged my backpack and followed her, checking my wound as we walked. _Still nothing? _The bleeding seemed to stop, that was really strange.

"How're you feeling, El?" Riley called out ahead of me.

"I don't know about you, but I've felt nothing for the past four hours."

Riley widened her eyes,  
"You don't think..."

I knew what she meant, but it seemed impossible. _E__veryone turns in less than two days._ I probably had a hell of an immune system.

"Nah. Highly unlikely."

We reached to Winston's camp and entered in the tent. Riley zipped the entrance shut so that any nearby Infected couldn't come in; it felt safe and secure. There was a large sleeping bag at the side.

"I guess we'll finally be roommates, huh?" Riley snickered.  
"Oh, har har." I rolled my eyes as I crawled inside of the sleeping bag.  
She did so as well, and the both us were in a snug fit.

The blanket kept us warm, it felt unexpectedly cozy for a place like this.

"Thanks, Winston." I whispered gratefully, I turned to face Riley who was looking back at me.  
"What would you think he'd do?" Riley wondered.  
"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if he was still alive, what would you think he'd done if he found out that you were bitten?"

I blew the hair that covered my face boringly, "He'd probably do the same thing that everyone else does when someone's Infected."

"Offer them a drink and allow them to self-loathe?" she suggested.

We laughed, our hands were crossed together beneath the sheets. Only our heads had stayed, it went on like this for about an hour. We talked about school, the Fireflies, life, and puns from that book she gave me. I started to yawn, wanting so badly to close my eyes.

But I didn't want to.

This was my last night. The last time I would ever get to spend with her.

Fighting off the sleep, I looked at Riley, she was exhausted as well.

"Hey... Riley?" I whispered softly.  
"Hmm?" she murmured, rubbing her eyes.

"Thanks."

"For what?"  
"For everything." I smiled, I couldn't keep up any longer, my eyes were slowly drooping.

I could hear Riley breathe slowly, as if thinking of something to say.  
"Ellie..." she yawned, grabbing my hands beneath the sheets and gripping it tight.  
"Just to make things clear..."

I held my breath in anticipation.

"... _I... uh, ...love.. you._" Her eyes fluttered and closed. I was grinning, and while Riley snored peacefully under the sleeping bag, I raised my head closer to hers and kissed her softly on the cheek. Her face lit up a smile as she slept. The final act of affection.

"We're so fucking lame..." I hummed, and finally, I collapsed. Letting the darkness welcome me in my slumber.

..

..

..

Right there, I thought to myself,  
_Being bitten wasn't as bad as everyone said it was._

* * *

**One of my favorite chapters, definitely. Thank you for reading!  
-Taco**


	5. Hope

**Chapter Five: Hope**_  
_

* * *

"Bzzzz..."

…

…

…

"...Bzzzz"

The weird buzzing continued, I groaned as I groggily opened one of my eyes to find the source of the sound.

A small, black fly hastily circled my body. _Gotcha,_ I thought. _So it was YOU who created all that ruckus. _The insect landed on my right arm, the buzzing stopped momentarily. Irritated, I focused on the fly and swiftly yet silently I landed my hand on it.

**SMACK!**

"Boom, Ellie gets plus points for stealth kill!" I blew the squished bug away and wiped my arm from the mess.

Wait a minute.

I was still alive?

But..  
How?  
I should've been dead by now, or you know, **UN**dead.  
_Ha! Good one Ellie_. Only if Riley heard that joke...

Now hold on a second.

..

..

Where was she?

Baffled, I tried to get up from the sleeping bag; but when I did, something gripped my left arm, limiting my movement.  
"What the hell..?" I uttered under my breath. I checked my arm and found myself handcuffed to the pole near the bed.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me." I moaned, rubbing my forehead with my right hand.

She fucking handcuffed me! Probably scavenged some of Winston's stuff while I slept, that sly little fox. I grunted as I tried to yank it to forcibly release the grip, it barely did anything.

"Riley!" I yelled loudly, I heard my voice bounce off the walls of the mall.

No response.

"Fucking great."  
I swear to God that if I turned, I was going to attack her first.

Several minutes passed and I found myself sleepy once again. As soon as I was about to doze off I heard footsteps near me,

_Scrape, scrape._

A shadow appeared outside of the tent, going closer to me.  
"Riley, you paranoid little shit-" but I stopped abruptly

That wasn't her.

Low gurgles filled the room and it let my hair stand up coldly.

_Click  
Click  
__Click_

"Oh crap." I grabbed my switchblade, _Clicker.  
_Thankfully, he couldn't get inside. I kept quiet as possible, being wary of every move I make.

I had to get these cuffs off of me. The Clicker was still sulking around the tent, I held my breath and calmly yanked the handcuffs again and again.

What an idiotic idea.

In a flash, the pole that the cuffs were chained to leaned forward and collapsed. Half of the tent has fallen, creating lots of noises in the process.  
The Clicker grew wild and approached me.

_Click  
__Click  
__Click  
__Click_

Don't move, don't fucking move.  
Suddenly, I heard gunshots from the other side.

**BANG! BANG!**

I heard the monster give out a death cry before collapsing. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Ellie?" The voice called out, it felt nervous.  
It was Riley.

"A little help over here?" I replied, almost suffocating from the toppled tent on me.  
She walked over and got the covering off of me. Thankful, I inhaled loudly and adjusted my vision to find Riley.

She noticed the cuffs linked to my arm  
"Oh crap, sorry about that." Riley took out a small key from her pocket and popped the lock off, the cuffs fell to the ground with a loud clinking noise.

We both stared at each other, waiting for the other one to speak up.

She sighed and started to explain in one take.  
"Look, Ellie. I know you're pissed, and I'm sorry. I went to scavenge for food but I thought you were going to turn so I cuffed you to the pole and I know it was a bad thing to do and I'm sorry but please if you're angry it's okay you have every right to-"

But I wasn't mad, I embraced her suddenly and Riley stopped talking.  
"I'm glad you're here." I said softly to her ear.

She responded by wrapping her arms around my waist,  
"You have no idea how relieved I am to see you alive."

We stood there for a while and finally both of us pulled out of the embrace. I smirked at her deviously.

"That doesn't make up for the fact that you're still an asshole." I teased.  
She rolled her eyes and examined my bandaged arm.

"Ellie."  
"Hm?" I asked, with a tiny bit of anxiety.  
"You seriously don't think you're immune?"

I shrugged casually.

"I wish that I am."

"Well I guess you got your wish, then."  
I grunted, "Don't be silly."

Riley crossed her arms, "Think about it, El. I've seen people turn hours after they got infected, _you survived a whole fucking day._"

I shook my head lightly, grabbing my backpack from the shelf.  
"Do you feel anything?" she inquired, putting her hands in her pocket.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do you feel dizzy? Any symptoms or whatnot?"  
"No. No not yet." I replied, my stomach growled loudly; Riley flinched and giggled.

"That's one symptom."

"Hunger? Pfft, then that must mean that you're Infected as well." I patted my stomach lightly,  
"Whatever, just don't freak out when you realize that you ain't turning." she chuckled

Riley took out her backpack and grabbed two snacks from it.

"God, I'm starving." I moaned

She tossed the goodies at me, "It's got some sort of filling in it, I've been saving these for a while."  
I checked the label of the plastic, the bold word **Snickers** was standing out, I couldn't believe my eyes.

"No way..." I said with my mouth open, "These things are fucking delicacies!"

Riley chortled and munched on hers, "Why don't you try it out then?"

And so I did, I took one bite off the bar and it felt like heaven. A mixture of caramel, chocolate, nuts, and other sweet things filled my mouth and excited my tastebuds. I savored each bite, it was so rare to find food like this, and here I am feasting on one of them. It definitely beat the bland food like stale crackers and biscuits.

"This is the first time..." I said, chewing loudly, "that I ever tasted something like this."  
"Don't talk with your mouth full." Riley nagged, finishing her chocolate bar.

I ate the last chunk of the Snickers and burped loudly.  
"Oh my apologies, I couldn't hear you correctly with my dick in your mouth." I replied, grinning.

Riley stared at me,  
"Woow."  
"Was that too much?"  
"Too much."  
"Okay. Sorry."

We both laughed and cleaned up the mess. We felt guilty for trashing Winston's camp so Riley figured that we should fix the tent.

It didn't take too long for us to get it done, in a matter of minutes Riley was able to patch everything up.  
"There we go." Riley gritted her teeth as she pulled the pole back up.  
"Thanks for letting us crash at your place, Winston!" I yelled while waving at the sky.

We walked away, the trip was mute. Riley and I managed to arrive at the entrance of the mall.  
"So, where are we headed now?" I asked, opening the front doors and letting myself welcome the scene before me.

There was foliage everywhere, plants and vines overcame the old buildings, I spotted squirrels climbing up trees that have destroyed and broken parts of the road because of their roots, this goes to show how much nature overpowers in time.

A breeze went to us momentarily, Riley placed her hands over her head, "I know a place not too far from here, I'm sure you'll love it" she winked.  
"Can I guess what this place is?" I asked.  
"Shoot." she answered back.

"Okay..." I rubbed my hands together to warm up, "Is it a... park?"  
"Nope."  
"Is it a... stadium?"  
"Nah."

"Oh! Is it that beach resort we've always wanted to go to?"  
"Psh, c'mon Ellie, lower your standards."

I pouted and thought about about a place,

"Please tell me it's the zoo."  
"Hah! Please, I've already got a monkey beside me."  
I punched her arm "Fuck you, Riley."

I pondered hard while rubbing my forehead; suddenly, it hit me.  
"It's the carnival, isn't it?"

"Bingo. Took you long enough." she smiled, Riley grabbed my hand and we went off to the direction of the Boston Carnival.  
"Hey, wait." I let go off her hand, we stopped in our tracks.

"Thanks for uh," I trailed off, staring at the floor. "For staying with me." I looked at her, blushing.  
Riley shrugged modestly, "I'd do it again if I had the chance."

We didn't say anything for a while, the sun was high in the sky and the breeze was cool enough to not start a heatwave. Quiet days like this made the world seem perfect.

"Come on, Ellie." Riley spoke up as we started to walk, I watched the birds in the air fly to the horizon, I've read in a book that these guys migrated here for the summer since the place they lived in was getting cold, I wondered if other countries had the same situation we were in.

But I subsided my thoughts and looked at Riley, I smiled unconsciously. I knew that at that moment the only person I would be with right now was her, and she had the same thing for me.

And the thought of surviving another day with her made my heart melt in happiness.

* * *

**I'm sorry for not updating, I had my school exams this week, I'm a person as well. At the least, expect 1-2 chapters a week. _(That rhymed.)  
_****Thank you all for the support! You crazy motherfuckers.**

**-Taco**


	6. Foolish Adventures

**Chapter Six: Foolish Adventures  
**

* * *

We walked in the middle of the cracked road, overcoming cars, fallen trees and small ponds.  
"You still don't know how to swim?" Riley inquired, jumping on a tiny puddle.

The splash she did soaked the lower part of my pants.  
"Hey, asshole! These are my good pair." I groaned as I tried to dry it off.

"You didn't answer my question, Ellie."

I blew the hair on my face "No, I haven't learned yet. It's not like there's a pool around."  
Riley looked up at the sky.  
"Well, way before you came to that school, one of Winston's buddies taught me how." she replied with confidence.

"That's great. You want a fucking dog treat or something?"

"Sorry, but who's the bitch here?" Riley smirked.  
I turned to her and flipped her off, we both cackled at our sillyness and continued on walking. The weather was surprisingly cool today.

After some time passed it got pretty dull.

"Okay, let's lighten things up shall we?" I took out the pun book from my backpack.  
"Oh boy..." Riley sighed.

I flipped through the pages and read the first one that I saw.  
"Did you hear about the guy who's left hand was cut off?"

Riley scratched her head, "I don't know, what?"

"They said it's okay because he's _all right_!"  
"Psssh." she retorted.

I flipped to another page "Fine, I thought it was funny."  
"Just get on with it, Ellie."

"Let's see." I scrolled through the jokes,

"The bunny I bought doesn't seem to like me."  
"...It's like it doesn't _carrot all!_" I couldn't help but giggle, I finally managed to make Riley laugh as well.

"Aw, that's adorable."  
"Yeah, I guess."  
"Okay, give me a new one."

I started reading a pun right below the last one.

"There was a sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center."  
"It said 'Keep off the Grass'."

…

…

"I don't get it" she said confusingly.  
"Me neither."

"Keep off the Grass... what does that mean?"  
I shrugged, "Beats me."

"Maybe it's-"  
"Oh, we're here!" Riley claimed excitedly as she sprinted ahead, I quickly closed the booklet and caught up to her, we stood before a large red tent. Its size was pretty intimidating.

"Tickets, please?" Riley joked as she brought out her hand, I scoffed and picked up a dry leaf; I promptly placed it on her outstretched palm.  
She smiled and gestured her way to the entrance, "Thank you. Right this way, ma'm."

We both entered and in almost every direction there were abandoned stalls. Most were now covered with foliage and plants, the mechanical rides have definitely seen better days.

But the first thing that caught my attention was a small novelty stall that had all kinds of apparel. Fake mustaches, Eyeball-popping glasses, masks, wigs, and hats. I spotted a tall, purple polka-dotted hat and wore it on my head.

I looked around, no one was in vicinity and Riley was messing with another stand.

I cleared my voice and looked at the cracked mirror,  
"Would you care for tea, Alice?" I played out a scene from a book that I read.  
"Why, yes! I'm very fond of tea." I answered back to myself in a high-pitched voice.

I was kidding around for a while until I saw Riley's reflection behind me from the mirror, she was leaning on the stand's pole.

"Hrrrnk." she choked, trying hard not to laugh.  
"Piss off." I said sheepishly, placing my hands behind my back.

Riley walked up to me and winked.  
"You look cute, though." She nuzzled her nose on the side of my cheek affectionately.  
"R-Riley..!" I blushed heavily, trying to push her away.

She laughed and pulled away from me, it felt awkward yet sweet.

I took off the hat and placed it back on the hanger, I grabbed Riley's arm.  
"C'mon, let's see what we can find."

We stumbled upon an old High Striker, a small bell rested on the top. Riley boldly stepped forward and grabbed the mallet resting beside it.

"Oh please, you gonna try and hit the top?" I mocked, crossing my arms.  
"Let's see who's stronger, then."

Riley closed her eyes and raised the mallet high in the air, then in a quick force it swiftly went down and slammed on the button it was afixed on.

**WHACK!**

It almost hit the bell. Shit.  
_How was I supposed to top that?_

"Can you beat that, _Mad Hatter?_" she teased, I burrowed my eyebrows annoyingly at her and got the mallet.  
I took a breath, _how hard could it be?_

My two hands were firmly gripped on the hammer, my arms were now tensing up. I mustered every bit of energy and force as I raised the mallet up, I swung it down as hard as I could.

**SLAM!**

The lever flew way up high, and shockingly it rung the bell.

**Ding! Ding! Ding! **It said in a muffled way, the rust probably softened the ringing.

Both Riley and I were dumbfounded, our mouths were hanging open.

...

...

"...Ohhhhh!" I finally managed to say, pumping my fists in the air.  
"Okay, Ellie. Okay." she rolled her eyes, admitting defeat.  
"Who just whooped your ass?" I asked playfully.  
"Let's move to another game-"  
"I said, who just whooped your ass?" I repeated.

Riley looked down coyly.

"You did..."  
"That's what I want to hear."

I placed the mallet down and looked at Riley.

Our eyes met again and the gaze took me back to yesterday. It felt like years ever since what happened, but it's only been 24 hours. I find it unbelievable that I'm still alive, the thought of being bit slowly faded away since I was too preoccupied being with Riley. She could be right, though.

_I am immune._

_.._

"We should check out the other stalls." she walked over to the next one.  
We played five more games, one was to take down a bunch of cans with our water guns, the other was to pin this tail on a cutout of a donkey while being blindfolded.

We returned to the novelty shop and I wore one of those fake mustaches while Riley placed an afro on her head.  
"You look like a dork." I laughed as I saw her put the wig on.  
"Hey, you're the one with the mustache."  
"I'm just more macho than you." I said as I flexed my biceps.  
"Well I'm sure you get _all_ the ladies, then."

I chuckled, "Damn right I do."

I glanced over and noticed that we never payed attention the the Ferris Wheel way at the back.  
"Oh my god, Riley." I said while staring at it.

She was trying on different kinds of wigs, yet she leaned towards me in a concerning way.

"What?"  
I pointed at the ride, "You do know that there's a fucking Ferris wheel over there, right?"

She widened her eyes and dropped the wig, Riley took my hand gently and guided us to it without uttering another word.  
"H-hey, wait-" I said as I took off the mustache with one hand.

We got to the Ferris wheel and examined the lower part, it was pretty small_. _There was a machine in front of it that seemed to operate the ride, it looked busted.

"Ah, poop. Well I guess we can't ride it." I hit the operating machine with my foot, Riley puckered her lips and looked at the top. She then turned to face me and smiled with a little bit of mischief.  
"I'm climbing to the top, you wanna join me?"

I stared at her in disbelief.  
"Join you-?! Are you fucking crazy?"

Riley placed her hands in her pocket, "Kind of."

Before she could cling to one of the passenger lifts, I stopped her.  
"I'm not letting you do this." I said sternly.

"Ellie, I can take care of myse-"

"You're going to hurt yourself." I cut her off. I didn't mean to sound strict, but it scared me to death if something ever happened to her.  
Our eyes were fixed on each other, mine were sharp and rigid while hers were trying to persuade me to let her go.

Riley took a deep breath.  
"Relax, this thing is like 10 meters tall. It's just a walk in the park, El."

I was still not convinced, "And what makes you think I'll let you go that easily?"  
She rubbed her chin. "Well, how 'bout this."

"If I'm right, and that nothing bad is gonna happen, then we play a game of Truth or Dare."

I looked at her skeptically, "And if _I'm_ right?"  
"Then you catch me as I fall and we do whatever you wanna do."

I thought about it, the Ferris wheel was pretty tiny. The worst thing that could happen to her was that she would break a leg.  
_Hah! Break a leg. How ironic. _

I reluctantly agreed to our proposition.  
"Fine, but I'm not taking care of you if you manage to hurt yourself."

Riley chortled and started to grab onto the first lift. "Relax, kid."  
I felt uneasy, but I watched silently.  
She moved to the left and clung onto the second capsule, then the third. Riley was like a spider making her own web.

All of a sudden I heard her shoe slip and she was dangling mid-air.  
"Fuck." Riley cursed.

"Riley!" I squealed, terrified that she might let go.  
"I'm good, Ellie! It's cool." she said calmly as she re-positioned her foot back in place.

Riley managed to successfully clamber onto the roof the of the fourth capsule, I held my breath as she carefully moved to the fifth one.  
"Aaaand... touchdown!" she exclaimed as she hopped to the top. I goggled at her as she clung to the wires like a monkey from a vine.

"Wow, you look pretty small." she added as she looked down at me.  
"Yeah, well fun's over, get down from there before you scare the shit out of me." I yelled, still nervous that she could fall.

Riley skillfully did as told and descended to a lower lift. She landed right next to me, dust filling my eyes from her landing.

"Alright, I won the deal, so we do the game."  
I sighed, "Sure, you're the boss."

We walked to a small yellow circus tent and sat together as the light seeped through the entrance.  
Riley took her hands out, "Okay."

"_Truth or Dare?_" she asked.  
"Um... truth, I guess."

"What were you feeling after I left?" her straight-to-the-point questions always surprised me.

I was quiet for a while, thinking of what words to say and what not to say.  
"Well, I thought we would make up the day after, you know. But when I figured that you weren't there I told myself that you would come back tomorrow and everything would be back to normal."

_But it didn't._

I paused momentarily, "I had a lot of mixed emotions at that time, Riley. I felt mad, confused, and alone."  
Her ears seemed to perk up, listening tentatively.

"Tino and the others said you that you probably got mauled off by some Infected. Eventually I believed them after a week passed by, then two, then three. No one really talked about it, but we knew what had happened. Or, we _thought_ we knew."

Believe it or not, I kept hoping for her to return every day. Even though the chances were slim, I still hoped. But after each day without her, a feeling of cold remorse swelled up inside me, feelings of guilt, anger, and frustration. I seldom talked to the other kids around me, I grew more distant and my fights between the groups at school decreased.

They knew that out of all the people that Riley met,  
I was the one that was struck the most.

It's been like that for a period of forty-six days. And then out of the blue, Riley pops up and acts like nothing had ever happened. She was oblivious to the tremendous amount of time that I struggled with her disappearance. And although I was relieved to see her, it was what pissed me off the most.

"I'm sorry, Ellie." Riley spoke up, feeling guilty.  
"What for?"  
"I fucked things up for you."

I picked at my bandage constantly, "You don't have to be. It doesn't matter now."  
She huddled up to the side of the tent, "But I need to make it up to you. I need to make up for every shitty thing I've done so far."

"Riley..." I took her by the hand.  
"You already did."

She looked at me in a puzzled way.  
"What?"

I tightened my grip on her hand, "Everything that we have done these past two days is more than enough for me to forgive you. To be honest I didn't really need to in the first place, the only thing I want right now is to be with you, and I couldn't be happier with anyone else."  
I stared at the ground, "...And about my bite?"

..

..

"I guess my wish did come true."

Riley scoffed and rubbed her arm sheepishly.  
"So did mine." she mumbled

Without hesitation, I closed the gap from our faces, fluttering my eyes to rest as I felt the warmth of her lips once again. The kiss was sudden, and the length was the same as the first.

No idea why I did that though, it just felt right.

_Everything felt right._

We pulled away shortly and the same blushing effect occurred to me like before. Riley was stunned once again, a feeling of nostalgia rushed to me. I instantly recalled the moments after our first kiss.

* * *

"_Sorry" I whispered._

_But Riley just stood there, still smiling.  
_"_For what?" she replied softly._

* * *

"You know what?" I said as I threw my arm over her neck in a childish way.

Riley turned to me, her cheeks were bright red.  
"What?"

"I'm _so_ not sorry for this one." I beamed, and we both chuckled as we reminisced the events of yesterday.  
"We're such saps." Riley sighed as I rested my head on her shoulder.  
"Corny and cheesy saps?" I added as I toyed with my hair.

"Mhm."

We stayed in that position for a while and played dozens of rounds of Truth or Dare. An hour passed and it was late in the afternoon, the warm sun drizzled on our skins.

I bit my lip and nudged Riley's shoulder. "Okay, last one. Truth or Da-"  
"Wait." Riley placed a finger on my mouth, I shoved it off gently.  
"What are you-" Suddenly I heard footsteps surrounding us.

_Plod  
__Plod  
__Plod_

The stomps of heavy boots were circling the area, my stomach churned and immediately I got on my feet.

_Oh shit._

…

…

…

Soldiers.

* * *

**Anything but the cliffhangers!****  
**


	7. Ambush

**Chapter Seven: Ambush**

* * *

We were alert. The plodding continued, there were about three soldiers in the perimeter, probably that time for them to start scouting. God, why did we have to choose this place?

I sighed, _Riley really is an idiot.  
_"But she's my idiot.." I muttered under by breath; unexpectedly, Riley heard me.

She mouthed the word _What? _Her face was full of confusion.  
"N-nothing." I whispered, starting to focus on what was happening at the moment.

We were sitting ducks, I was still uncertain whether the soldiers were outside the Carnival or inside. I turned to Riley worryingly.

"What's the plan?" I asked in a low voice.

She kept her tone calm and soft so that no one but I could hear her.  
"I'm gonna take a quick peek and see if these guys are outside the wall. If they are then we'll find a way to get out of this place before they catch us."

"And what if they're inside?"  
"Then you just gotta trust me in this."

She held her finger to her mouth, signalling a _'Hey Ellie, I think it's time for us to shut the fuck up now'_ kind of action. Riley popped her head outside and checked all directions, after a while she yielded back and gave a thumbs up.  
"Coast is clear, we should move." she whispered. I nodded and followed her lead, we crept out of the tent and quickly hugged the inside wall of the Carnival. I could hear a soldier yawn from the outside, it felt unnerving to me that the only thing separating us was a measly cement wall.

We reached the exit, Riley beckoned me and I searched for any soldiers outside the venue. Unsurprisingly there were two of them guarding the entrance. Both their backs were facing us.

I looked around and spotted a chipped brick, I faced Riley and handed it to her. Both of us had the same idea in our heads.  
She nodded and threw the brick ahead of the two soldiers, the sound alerted them and sure enough they slowly approached to where the sound was.

_Great! Now the dumbasses are out of the way._

We sneaked out of the Carnival, Riley and I were just a few more feet away to hide in a building when we heard a deep and coarse voice pierce the hazy air.  
"Stop! You're trespassing in a restricted area!"  
I turned back, and I saw the soldier, his gun was pointing at both of us.

_Fan-fucking-tastic._

"Shit." I hissed, stopping in my tracks. We didn't dare to move an inch.  
The soldier grabbed a radio transmitter from the side of his shoulder and uttered something to the other side, he released it and turned back to us, aiming his gun cautiously.  
"Put your hands where I can see them." the soldier commanded, he was coming closer to us now, I looked at Riley; she was calm yet anxious.

But when he took another step, Riley grabbed something from her backpack and threw it on the ground. I heard the clinking and clatter of a cylindrical metal object roll around the pavement.

It was a smoke bomb.

"Run, Ellie!" Riley yelled as the bomb spewed out the gas, the soldier was engulfed in the smoke, unable to see.  
We dashed to the alleyway, gunshots followed us shortly after. As we narrowingly escaped the crossfire, I stopped to take a breath.

"Jesus Christ, Riley!" I huffed.  
"What?"  
"That was pretty fucking stupid."

She snorted.

"Hey, 'least we're alive."

I groaned, Riley chuckled and the both of us started to walk again.

She looked up at the sky, "Okay, I think it's time that we should-"

**BANG!**

A shot rang out; a bullet grazed her upper left arm, leaving a splot of blood on her sleeve. Riley winced and fell on her knees while the bullet was still lodged in her.

Stunned and still processing what had happened, I stared at her as she gritted her teeth in pain.  
She shut her eyes tight and coughed up some words, "...Son of a...bitch..."

I snapped out of it and helped her up. The soldiers shouldn't be too far now, I quickly wrapped Riley's wound with a rag and we ran as fast as we could.

"Just hold on a little bit more, Riley!" I assured her as she leaned on me, we exited the alleyway and took several turns from the roads that we encountered. My heart was racing, the only person I had cared for was now shot _and_ we had a pack of military rogues on our tails.

This day was just as interesting as the one before.

When I took the fifth turn, a soldier jumped out of the blue and tackled me. Riley was a few feet away, still struggling to move.  
"You little shit..!" he grunted as he tried to strangle me. I bit his hand in defense, he yelled in pain and quickly withdrew. I was about to run away until he delivered a sharp punch on my lower jaw.

The impact made me fall almost immediately, my jaw felt like broken glass and my vision was blurry. I could hear Riley scream my name in concern and terror. Five seconds later, I heard a gunshot.

**BANG!**

Then two more quickly fired after the first one.

**BANG! BANG!**

Fortunately, it was the soldier this time.  
He fell with a large thud, a small puddle of blood started to form below his body. I staggered to get up, my face felt incredibly swollen. Riley reloaded her gun and clutched her arm as we tried to run off again.

Five minutes passed, and our pacing slowed. Riley leaned on a wall and panted heavily, I could tell that she was in extreme pain.

"Can you still keep up?" I asked desperately, hoping for a positive answer.  
"I don't think I can." She whimpered softly, my palms were sweaty and jittery. I had no idea on how to react to the situation.  
"W-what do you want me to do?"

The rag that covered the wound was now drenched in red, tiny droplets of blood often dripped on the floor. She was bleeding heavily.  
"Just give me a second, Ellie." Riley said as she raised a hand to her upper left arm. She got a roll of bandages from her backpack and replaced it with the old rag. I felt anxious being out in the open like this.

"The bullet, it's still there-"  
"I know that!" she replied curtly with a raised voice. I was taken aback a little, but I knew that she was in pain.

A few seconds passed and Riley sighed, "Sorry. My mind is really messed up at the moment."

I shrugged, "It's fine, I get it. Here – let me help you with that." I started to wrap the bandage on her arm and tightened it to stop most of the bleeding.  
The air was still and I continued bandaging her arm.

..  
..

"Riley." I said in a calm voice.  
"Mm?"  
"You're gonna be okay, right?"

"I'll be fine."

Her answer relieved me a little. Even though I was still stubbornly uncertain.

I smiled, finishing up the bandage.  
"Good."

Riley got on her feet, "Thanks, El. I think that'll do."  
We exited the alleyway and started to cross the road, she was ahead of me yet she limped every now and then. I glanced at her from time to time. Still being the concerned bitch I am I finally worked up the courage to ask her again.

"You sure you're alright?"  
Riley nodded, "I've dealt with worse. The shit's bothering me, though."

"I think we should rest in that building over there." I suggested, pointing at a faded red apartment. We walked over to it and settled inside for a while.

We sat and leaned on the wall, thinking of what to do next. The soldiers should have lost our tracks by now, I closed my eyes and let myself relax for a few minutes.

…

…

…

…

**FWAP!**

All of a sudden, a jolt of electricity filled my body. Every part was tingling and my skin felt like it was burning, I moaned in pain after the short shock. I was lying on the ground, unable to move for what seemed to be the longest time.

A man stood before me with a taser in his hand. He didn't seem to be from the military, his tall shadowy figure fell on me. _How the hell did they find us?_ Riley called my name again and rushed at the man with full force.

"You fucking asshole!" she yelled as she tried to land a punch on him.

He effortlessly dodged the attack, making Riley lose her balance. As her guard was down, the man shocked her from behind with his taser.

**Bzzzzzt!**

I watched helplessly as I saw Riley fall down beside me, unconscious.

"Stop..!" I said as I tried to get up, but the man kicked my gut from the side and I toppled on the floor again.  
The pain was intense and I started to black out.

But before I did, I heard shoes scraping the rough floor and another figure appeared next to the man. I heard a muffled voice pierce the air.

"Take them to the hideout."

He nodded and carried Riley like a sack of rice. He walked off while the other person remained, they seemed to be looking down at me.  
I watched the man disappear, still holding Riley. I had no idea where he was taking her, and the thought of that was horrendous.

I lifted my arm and reached out my hand, every muscle was aching in me.

"Riley..." I tried to call out, but she didn't hear me. It was useless.

My arm collapsed, my cheek touched the cold stony floor. I didn't know what to do, everything seemed to shut down inside of my head. I could hear my heartbeat much more clearly now, my chest aching after each individual pulse. Before I couldn't take it any longer, I spotted the figure in my peripheral. They moved from their position slowly and walked up to me, the light above shone brightly on their face and I could finally identify who it was.

It was Marlene.

…

…

...

Everything went dark.

* * *

**-insert apology for ending the chapter with a cliffhanger here-**


	8. Queen's Orders

**Chapter Eight: Queen's Orders**

* * *

"Don't go." I pleaded softly.

She looked at me, her soft brown eyes on my green ones. The words I had spoken echoed  
through the room.

_Don't go..._

_..  
.._

Wait, what?

We were back in the mall?

I tried to move, but my feet were firmly planted on the display case. The song was barely audible, what the hell was happening?  
Riley stood before me, I expected her to yank off her Firefly chain and toss it on the ground, then I would lean in and replay our first kiss. I was dreaming the scene again, like I did the night before.

But Riley didn't take her chain off, she just stood there. Her eyes were now downcast. I was debating if whatever I was witnessing at the moment was real or not. I blinked several times, but all I could see was the room surrounding us and her.

After an eternity, Riley finally spoke up.

"I can't stay, Ellie."

I was confused and anxious, her emotions were indecipherable.  
"Huh..?"

But it seemed like Riley didn't hear me, she turned back and started to walk away.  
"H-hey, wait-" I called out as I grabbed her hand, but shockingly, her body evaporated as soon as I held contact with her skin. I yelped as I watched her disappear from sight.

I stood there, dumbfounded. Unable to process what had just happened.

"Riley?!" I yelled, my voice bounced off the walls. It was eerily quiet, the Walkman was no longer playing the music. I was alone, standing in the display case inside the department store.

She was gone.

Following the events from before, low gurgles filled the room. My hair stood up coldly and I reluctantly turned to where the sound was produced. My eyes widened in fear as I spotted a pack of Infected staring right back at me. Their rotting skin and disgusting appearance appalled me, my muscles tensed up as I prepared to run.

But I couldn't, my feet refused to move from the glass it was standing on. I looked around frantically for any signs of Riley whom I hoped would save me from the beasts like a hero from a shitty fairy tale book.

That wasn't the case. The Infected sprinted at me, each one of them screeching and creating inhumane sounds that would forever scar me. I shrieked as I felt their cracked fingernails dig into my skin and their ragged teeth bite into various parts of my body. The pain felt horrendously real and I closed my eyes as I felt it intensify greatly.

* * *

"Aaaagh!" I screamed loudly, lifting myself up on what seemed to be a small mattress. I looked around frantically, there were no Infected clawing at me, no blood on my clothes, nothing.

I was breathing heavily, _it felt so fucking real._ That was my first nightmare in God knows how long. I collected my senses and found myself in a small room with nothing but a mattress and a glass of water beside me.

Without thinking I grabbed the water and chugged it down, I exhaled with satisfaction and placed it back on the floor. I sat cross-legged on the bed, recalling the events of what happened before.

..

..

"_Take them to the hideout." _

..

..

"Right, Marlene." I said while pondering. I remember now, we got jumped. My forehead ached as I thought, the effects of getting electrified still haven't simmered down on me. I investigated my new surroundings. It was the Fireflies that captured us, wasn't the first time they did it, either.

...

I gasped.

_Shit,_ the Fireflies.

"Oh man..." I whined, pacing back and forth. "Oh man, oh man, oh man..."  
"...Marlene, w-what if she finds out that..."

"That- oh shit..." I murmured, biting my nails anxiously.

Unexpectedly, a soft grunt interrupted my thinking and instinctively I turned to it's direction.  
And there she was, leaning on the doorway was the leader of the Fireflies, her rigid face was unsettling to me.

"Already have." Marlene replied, holding an unrolled and stained bandage with her index finger. I gulped as I darted my fingers to my right arm, my bite mark has been revealed. There was no more bleeding but the imprint was still there, I spotted some small fungi growing around it.

I stood there, unable to move.

"M-Marlene... I-"

She held up a free hand, "Don't start. Riley told me everything."  
My brain clicked immediately, "Riley..!" I exclaimed, a feeling of apprehension rushed through me. "Sorry, uh. Is she okay?"

"Well, let's see." Marlene huffed as she rubbed her palms together, "So far she's crossed a city, went back to that school of yours to see you when I specifically told her _not_ to."

I stifled a chortle, Riley was always the stubborn type.

Marlene continued, "Persuaded you to ditch school together, tried to discharge herself from the Fireflies, got you _bit.._."  
I traced the bite with my hand gently.

"...Trespassed through a military infested area, got shot _and_ placed both of your lives in danger."  
I was silent, it felt like a conversation at the Colonel's office all over again.

"I lost a handful of my men trying to track you two down."

But Marlene cracked a tiny smile, "After I was done yelling at Riley for disobeying orders, I sent a medic to dress her wound. She'll be okay."  
I let out a sigh of relief. "Christ..." I said as I massaged my temples. Marlene gave a guilty look as she spotted me, "I should apologize for the aggressive approach. Geoff is pretty rough when it comes to combat, I didn't expect him to knock the two of you out just like that."

I shrugged. "This isn't the first time, remember?"

Silence filled the room, I awkwardly waited for a reply.  
"Right." she finally said, her eyes fixed on my right arm.

"Three days old, remarkable..." Marlene whispered with a tiny hint of awe. I cocked a brow, "Wait, _three days?_"

Marlene exited the room and returned shortly after, she was holding a folder of some sorts. "Mm, you and Riley had been out like a light and it was only four in the afternoon."

I blew the hair on my face, "Damn."

"Well, while you were asleep we did some tests on you, don't worry, we didn't inject anything. I couldn't believe it at first. But, when I realized how you weren't affected at all..."

She hung to the words tightly, what she was going to say echoed through my mind for an eternity.  
"Ellie, you... are immune."

"You are the cure."

I looked at her, and she was looking at me. _Me_. The person whom somehow survived through an Infected bite. The person who had thought that her life was going to end right there, but miraculously lived to tell the tale. That person is me, I got another chance. Another chance to live and save the world that didn't seem worth saving. It was all on me now.

_I am immune._

"Holy. Fucking. Shit." I said, overwhelmed by the thought. All of a sudden, a girl barged through the room after giving two quick and impatient knocks on the door. She was wearing a faded white tank top and dark cargo pants. My heart lept as I started to recognize the familiar face.

"Riley!" I yelled, running to her.

She did the same to me and we embraced each other softly, I burrowed my face into her shoulder, cherishing this moment.  
"Man, am I glad to see you." she whispered to my ear.

"Don't just barge in like that, you scared me to death." I said in a muffled tone.

She laughed softly, "Sorry. They said you were in the room down the hall so, you know, I ran to check on you."

We embraced each other for an awful long time, but I didn't care. The nightmare I had flashed before my eyes and I hugged her even tighter, Riley didn't seem to mind and kept holding on as well.

_Don't go..._

It echoed through my head again.

..

Marlene cleared her throat.  
_Whoops._

I totally forgot that she was still in the room, I pulled out of the embrace and rubbed my neck from the back, blushing deeply.  
"Alright, now that you've had your little moment there I might as well explain to you my motives to why I kept the both of you here."

Riley and I listened tentatively, still embarrassed on what had happened.

"You both know the Firefly's causes, double on you, Abel." she nodded at her, Riley tilted her head back slightly.  
"Now, I've already contacted a group of Fireflies who will be waiting for you at the Capitol building. You two will rendezvous to the extraction point and they'll bring you to another Firefly hideout."

We didn't respond, Marlene stared at the both of us.  
"Did you get that?" she said sternly.

We both nodded our heads uncouthly, she continued and turned to Riley.  
"Riley, I want you to escort Ellie to the Capitol Building."

Her mouth was agape, "But I'm not -"  
"Firefly or not you _are_ going to get her there." Marlene interrupted. Riley's eyes didn't leave her's.

"Where do we go next after we reach the Capitol?" she asked, silently accepting the mission.  
"The group leader there should figure it out, but by then the two of you better watch out for each other."

Her statement reminded me of Marlene's promise to my mother, a feeling of pent up aggression was building in me.  
"And why can't you go along with us, then?"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead, preparing to explain things as calmly as possible.  
"The situation the Fireflies are in right now ain't too hot. They've been rounding us up and I need to be here to sort things out, at least for a while. You understand that, don't you? I'll meet with you two later once I settle our beef with these military goons. Got it?"

Riley and I spoke in unison, "Got it."

She smirked and straightened up, before leaving the room she turned to both of us as she opened the door.

"You will be deployed in four days, for the time being go have some _quality time..._ if that's how you call it. I'll be back in a few hours." Marlene said sternly as she shut the door.

…

…

…

I sighed and punched Riley's arm.  
"Nice going, genius."

She flinched as she rubbed it soothingly, "Ow! I got shot there, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry."  
"Wow, you are such a shithead"  
"_Shithead_, are you sure you aren't talking about yourself?"

"Shut up." Riley snickered as she tackled me, we both landed on the mattress, spilling over the glass that I had drank recently, I managed to wrestle her until I came out on top.

"Alright, I win, so we do a little game." I laughed, recalling the deal I had with Riley back at the Carnival.  
"Okay, shoot."

We both sat comfortably on the mattress, our backs resting against the wall. The window gave way to rays of sunshine that sprinkled on our skin gently. I rubbed my hands together and gave a smirk.

"Let's see, ah..."

"...Truth or Dare?" I asked deviously.

* * *

**So a lot of you have asked this question, so I will answer.**

**Joel will be in this story. I am making this Fanfic follow the events from the Main Campaign.**  
**I know what you're thinking _"What about Rileeeey?"_**

**Well, you'll see in a few more chapters.**

**Thanks again for your feedback! I'd love to hear more!  
****-Taco**


	9. Reminisce

**Chapter Nine: Reminisce**

* * *

The afternoon breeze drifted across the room, he had been looking out the broken window for far too long. The unpalatable scent of the urban city wafted in and mixed with the previous breeze; he crinkled his nose as a sign of dislike and turned away from the window. The rotted walls greeted him as the paint started to rot away.

A few minutes had passed and there was a gentle knock on the door, he didn't have time to notice it. The man seemed to be miles away from the scenario at the moment, busy thinking about something else.

The knocks eventually grew louder until a voice piped in from the other side.

"Joel." The voice said irritably

He snapped from the brief trance and faced back to the window. "It ain't locked." He replied flatly.

The door opened and the woman stood in the doorway, both her arms crossed.  
"You haven't talked the whole day. Mind telling me why?"

Joel sighed softly, trying to keep the conversation as casual as possible.

"Headache."  
"_A headache,_" she scoffed. "So _that's_ what's been keeping you distant." she said sarcastically.

He faced her, his brows were scrunched together. "Tess, I am not in the mood to chat right now."

"Ah,"  
"One of those days where you need your _alone time?_"

"Somethin' like that." Joel grunted.  
Tess smirked and exited the room, before closing the door she turned back to him.

"We don't have any missions to deal with today, so take it easy, Texas." she said in a concerned manner.  
Joel paused and nodded slightly, covering his rough beard with one hand. She had some notion to what he was going through. The door closed softly, leaving Joel alone in the room once again.

He slumped on to a worn out couch, it's cushions were flat and uncomfortable. He scanned the room and imagined it morph back to it's happier days.

The walls were just freshly painted, a gleam of teal brightened the area and complimented the polished wooden floor, a coffee table was before him which held a mug and some newspapers. A ceiling fan moved rapidly from above while birds chirped and flew outside the window. Joel turned to his left and there she was, hugging her knees tightly as she watched a show on the television; her short blond hair glistened in the afternoon sun. He widened his eyes, hoping that what he was seeing was a reality.

"Sarah..." Joel whispered, reaching a hand to her.

But as he touched her arm, the phantom girl vanished from his sight. Joel stumbled to the edge of the couch, breathing heavily from his hallucination.

Everything returned back to normal, the room around him began to deteriorate to it's current form. Joel sighed and closed his eyes.  
"Get it together." He said to himself.

Joel returned to the window once again as he subconsciously glided his fingers over the broken watch. He had dreaded for this day to come, a feeling of sorrow welled up inside of him as he replayed a memory that would be forever kept in his heart.

* * *

He held her in his arms, an infant whom was only hours old. He stood there along with a younger boy as he cradled the girl. A new sense of responsibility crept upon him. Joel was young, too young to have a child. He was only eighteen. After a heated argument with the mother, Joel had volunteered to raise the newborn.

He had already planned on what to do, ask for assistance from his parents, skip college and get a job. That job would be the foundation, helping him to send her daughter to school and eventually a house that suited their needs. It would be a difficult road to cross, but as he gazed upon the child he was overwhelmed with determination. Vowing to himself to give his daughter a better life.

"Oh my god. This is unbelievable." The younger brother said, gawking at the sleeping baby.  
"What's Mom and Dad gonna think?" He asked nervously, looking up at Joel. It was Tommy, he had just entered his teenage years. Awestruck at the realization that he was now an uncle.

He had asked Tommy if he could come over to his room to check on something. Out of all the things he guessed, he had not expected that Joel would present to him a _baby_.

"Well, whether they like it or not, We're takin' care of her." He replied, rocking the infant to and fro carefully. Tommy tiptoed to examine his new niece better. "Oh, so it's a girl! What're you gonna name her then?"

Joel was silent, pondering carefully to think of a name. A name that he would always be fond of. He imagined her daughter to be a feisty little spirit, energetic, independent, and sweet. What would pair with those kinds of characteristics?

"...Sarah." He mumbled, "Yeah... that's right. Hey, _Sarah._" he embraced her softly, a proud sense of fatherhood filled the adult, a love that was irreplaceable and caring. Today was going to be a fresh start. Joel whispered into her tiny ear as if she could hear him from her slumber.

"Happy birthday, baby girl."

* * *

**Ellie's POV**

"Bullshit, you're sixteen already?" I asked with disbelief. Riley frowned and turned to me.

"I thought you knew."  
"No. Was it when you were with the Fireflies?"

"Yeah. But I didn't tell them, they wouldn't give a shit anyhow."

I attempted to solace her, "I would."  
"Of course you would." she scoffed, wringing her arms together.

I pouted. I was completely unaware of her birthday. Feeling sorry knowing that I had forgotten a celebration, I grabbed my backpack from the corner of the mattress and fished for a makeshift present.

Riley knew what I was planning to do, "Ellie, it's cool. You don't need to give me one."  
I was still rummaging through the backpack, hoping for an object to catch my attention; it was fruitless.

"Good, 'cause I honestly didn't have anything to give you from the start."  
She chuckled lightly, "Some friend you are."

"Oh, so I'm just _some_ _friend._" I replied jokingly, acting offended by her words.  
But it seemed that Riley didn't sense my sarcasm, she turned to me with a rigid expression on her face.

"You know you're more than that, Ellie."  
Her stare made me surprisingly uncomfortable, I pushed her away playfully to try and break her gaze.  
"Jesus, Riley. I was kidding." I laughed as I shook the seriousness out of her.

We sat there for a while, both of us giving each other some time to ourselves. I was still shy, of course. The thought of having a relationship with Riley was still foreign to me. All I understood is that we both have feelings for each other, and that's that. It would take some time to evolve, but I was content with our tie at the moment.

Riley and I had resulted to reading comic books while waiting for Marlene. I used her lap as a surrogate pillow while she used the wall to rest on. It was a quiet and happy scene, as I flipped through the next page the door swung open and Marlene came into view.

"Well someone's back early." Riley said, putting down the comic. Marlene gave a weak smile and walked towards us.

"I got some news for you guys."  
I lifted my head and allowed myself to sit on the edge of the mattress, Riley eventually mimicked my actions and the both of us were anticipating for her to continue.

"I just talked to the guys who were supposed to meet you at the Capitol. Apparently our schedule was at an inconvenient time, so the best alternative is to try again in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" I groaned, it seemed like an eternity. I didn't need to spend another fourteen days doing nothing.  
"Trust me, I tried to persuade them to find some other way. Didn't yield anything."  
"So... what are _we_ gonna do?" Riley asked, gesturing to the two of us.

"You wait. Ellie obviously isn't going to go back to that school, or any others for that matter. If you'd like you can go ask Geoff to train you in combat, he's a reasonable guy despite knocking you two out. I'll set up another bed and both of you can share a temporary room."

I was delighted. Riley no longer needed to sneak in from outside just to talk. We had the place for ourselves now. I nodded slightly and placed my comic book on my lap, Marlene lowered herself to our height and began to speak.

"You two understand, right?"  
We replied in unison. "Yeah."

"Thanks, I knew you would. I'll go ask Trevor for a mattress, I'll be back after I finish with an errand." She got up and exited the room, closing the door behind us. I let out a sigh and collapsed on to the bed, Riley did the same.

We laid there for a while, suddenly, Riley spoke up and broke the silence.  
"Wanna go training?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing." I grinned and got off the bed, we exited the room and raced around the corridors, hoping to find the Firefly Marlene had mentioned.

We spotted him, he was sitting on a chair and appeared to be dozing off. Riley and I started to argue on who would wake him up. Due to the noise, Geoff awoke from our banter instead.

"What do you want?" he grumbled, his beanie almost slipping off from his head. We jumped from the sound of his low yet warm voice.

"Uh, M-Marlene said that if we wanted to train, we'd come to you." Riley replied, twiddling her thumbs childishly. Geoff examined the two of us carefully, his brows lifted as he recognized our faces.

"Oh, it's you two. Yeah you're the kids from yesterday."  
"Yeah. The kids whom _you_ personally knocked out." I added, Geoff grunted and lifted himself up, stretching in the process.

"Alright, alright, you girls follow me." He yawned as he led the way. Riley and I were behind him, feeling slightly intimidated from his unusually large height.

Unknowingly, we were preparing for the chain of events that would soon befall on us. It would only be a matter of days before it would happen. It would change my life forever.

And in time, I realized how grateful I was.

* * *

**Yep, that's right, it's Joel. He is now officially in this story. Woo!  
I figured the appropriate way to introduce him was in that fashion. So in my book, Sarah's birthday is in early Summer season. That's sweet.**

**Thanks for your wonderful support, you motivate me to keep writing :)****  
****-Taco**


	10. Devastation

**Chapter Ten: Devastation**

* * *

Geoff had been training us for the past four days. He taught us how to block, how to attack with melee and how to evade. Marlene had instructed him to not give me a firearm until the time was right _(I still begged him to let me borrow his old one although with no success) _but as compensation he showed me how to steal a firearm from an enemy once they've been stunned. Riley had already learned these techniques but would join in on the training whenever we would spar.

It was a fun and effective way of passing time, and sure enough both of our bonds with Geoff had strengthened like the one we had with Winston. He showed less emotion but deep inside had the same heart as his. The sun eventually settled in and our training had ended for the day, we were directed back to our rooms as the stars started to glisten.

* * *

It was late at night and I had just awoken from a whimsical dream that would probably be awesome if it actually happened. I imagined a giant spaceship that carried all these Infected from around the world and were about to be dispersed into space, cleansing the Earth of the scum, sadly the dream ended as soon as I saw it liftoff.

As I turned to my right there sat Riley on her own mattress with a pillow on her lap, she was staring at me intently.

"That's creepy, man." I said.  
"Sorry, can't help it."  
But her eyes were still on me, "You know, you look really beautiful when you sleep. Well, most of the time, like when you aren't drooling or snoring."

"Aw. But you watch me when I sleep?" I asked.  
Riley shrugged. "Sometimes"

I gave her a look to make sure she knew how creeped out I was and afterwards allowed myself to stare at the ceiling for a few more minutes.

Eventually I got up and stretched, making a satisying _crack_ each time I did. I realized that my hair was untied, but I didn't bother tying it back up. I looked over at Riley, she was still staring at me.

"What's up?" I asked while walking over to her. Riley was hesitant, but finally she spoke up.  
"We don't have to do this, Ellie." Referring to our soon to be meetup with the Fireflies at the Capitol.

I scoffed, "What do we do then? Last time we went off on our own there was a bullet in your arm."

Riley sighed and stood up, she lowered her head. "We don't know where they're taking us. What if they'll do something to you? Run horrible tests on you or something like that. Or even worse, what if they take you away?" she paused momentarily "I can't imagine something like tha-"

"Riley. We'll be fine." I said positively. "I'm sure Marlene knows what she's doing."  
Her demeanor didn't change, she was still uneasy about the whole thing. I did my best as I tried to encourage her by slipping my fingers into her hands. She was still looking down, but as she lifted her head to meet my eyes, hers were filled with fear and concern.

Riley, the girl whom I would think of as courageous with her dazzling bravado and energetic attitude had fear in her eyes, something that was so rare and uncommon that it made me fret as well.

"I'm afraid..." Riley spoke up, her voice shaking.  
"I'm afraid of losing you."

I didn't have anything to say, actually, I didn't need to say anything at all. A rush of adrenaline filled me as I felt my mind shut down and allowed my heart to do what it wanted to assure Riley that she was mine and I was hers. The inches between us were closed and we kissed with a passion that burned brighter than the sun.

Riley hugged the lower part of our bodies closer and I stifled a moan from the contact. Shudders raced down my spine from the intensity of our kiss. Every worry seemed to fade away and were replaced with nothing but love.

Eventually we had stumbled on Riley's mattress and subconsciously sat together with our lips still in between. I caressed her cheeks in a corny way, escaping a giggle every now and then as Riley played with the strands of hair covering my face.

There were heavy breathings and soon I was out of breath. We broke away from each other, our hands were entwined as I gazed into her eyes, they were no longer with fear, but with happiness and hope.

"I'm here, Riley. I'm not letting you go." I whispered into her ear, yawning again from my drowsiness. I rested my head on her shoulder, we were both exhausted, and let me tell you, _t__hat was pretty amazing._

..

..

"Ellie?"  
"Hm?"  
"Thanks." Riley beamed, she showed a grin that I haven't seen in a long time.

I nuzzled my face on the side of her neck affectionately, "Don't mention it."

She chuckled and released our hands, rubbing her eyes childishly. Riley wrapped her arm around my shoulder as we looked through the window and up at the starry sky.

..

..

Riley broke the silence as she noticed me yawn once again. "We need to get some sleep, did I wake you up a while ago?"

"No, don't worry. But I agree, your eyebags are really... er.." I teased, poking at her.  
"Shut up. I don't have eyebags."  
"Yes you do."  
"No I don't."  
"_Yes_. You do."

Riley raised her arms in surrender, "Okay, you know what? I'm not going to argue with you for the rest of the night. It's time for us to sleep anyway, see you in the morning." She then proceeded to lie down on the mattress, turning her back on me as she snoozed away.

"'Night, Ellie" Riley called softly to me, I hadn't moved from my position. I didn't want to sleep on my bed tonight.

"Riley..?"  
There was a short pause, but she finally replied "Yeah?"

"Can I uh..." I was wringing my wrists "Can I sleep with you for the night? I-I mean not in _that _way, it's just that i-it's hard to-" My cheeks burned red, when can I stop being such a fucking goof?  
But Riley rolled to me and spoke calmly, "You didn't need to ask, El."

My face lit up in happiness and I walked over to my bed to grab my pillow, I placed it next to Riley's so that the both of us were lying down together, facing each other.

"Goodnight." I said, snuggling up and letting out a yawn.  
"Sweet dreams, my love." Riley cooed, cloying.

I flinched as she said those words, "Eeugh, don't call me that."  
"I was kidding. Have a shitty night, you asshole." Riley concluded sarcastically, letting the two of us enter into a deep and peaceful slumber.

* * *

"So. Where are we going exactly?" I asked, it was late in the afternoon and we were welcomed with warm winds and orange skies. Geoff had taken us outside of the hideout so we could tour around the city, there were no soldiers in sight, something that seemed to be so rare in Boston.

"Just walkin' around. It's nice to take a stroll without the military sniffing your ass most of the time." He chuckled, stroking his short gray beard with one hand.

Riley had caught up with Geoff's fashion and wore her own beanie. Unlike Geoff's faded gray one, hers were dark blue and matched the black hoodie she had fitted. I on the other hand had wore a red shirt with a black thermal underneath. It wasn't too hot for any of us to complain and we were just outside the gates of the QZ after using a tunnel that we had previously gone through in the past.

"Now you two stay close, I can't afford getting you girls into trouble." He said sternly.

"Yeah, I think we can handle ourselves, old timer." Riley smirked confidently at him, Geoff shook his head as he sighed and trudged forward, casually enjoying the quiet environment around us.

We had come across an old record store. Riley hurried over to the entrance and we were greeted with toppled tables and chairs with rows of records at the sides. The dust that had filled our eyes quickly subsided and we split up in the store to look around.

"Well, this takes me to a trip down ol' memory lane." Geoff muttered as he flipped through some of the vinyls.

I walked over to him and watched him take a record out, he blew the dirt off the front and stared at the strange album cover, it was an aged photograph of four men crossing a road, the background had cars that were way different than the ones lined up in the roads today.

There was no text to indicate the band name, I looked up at Geoff expecting him to be in confusion but instead a broad smile was plastered across his face.

"Do you know the band?" I asked, his eyes darted to me, full of nostalgia and wonder.  
"_Oh, do I know the band._ My mother was always a huge fan of them, I guess her obsession passed on in the family."

Geoff handed the vinyl to me and I examined the cover better, he chuckled at my curiosity.

"Sorry, forgot to mention the name, they're called The Beatles."  
"_Beetles?_ Like, the bugs?" I inquired, they didn't look like insects at all.

"No, see here, they spelled it as '_BEATLES'._"  
"Oh." I said.

"So when was this album released?"  
"1969."

My jaw dropped, "Holy shit! You were alive at that time?!" I could see Riley turn to us from the opposite end, reacting to my loud remark.

Geoff scratched the back of his neck. "No, I was born a decade after. My mother gave me a bunch of her albums when I was a kid. _This _happens to be one of 'em."

I pouted, flipping the record to the other side "Man. Really wish we could play it."  
"Mhm." He sighed.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any tapes or cassettes for my Walkman in the store, the three of us left and began walking on the pavement again.

Geoff looked over at Riley and started a conversation.  
"So, how'd you two end up here?"

She placed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, "It's a long story, basically when I was a Firefly I took Ellie to this place, she got bit but she never turned. One thing went after the other and... here we are!" Riley exclaimed, gesturing to the both of us.

Geoff's knit cap lowered as he lifted a brow, "Marlene mentioned that you were supposed to go with another group of Fireflies outside the city, but you ended up leaving. I guess it's got somethin' to do with her." He nodded at me.

Riley faced me as she walked and I gave her a faint smile, she smirked back at me with affection in her eyes.  
"Yeah. It does." she replied softly.

Geoff understood and spoke no more, I was thankful that he did.

After walking for about an hour we were a couple meters away from an old steel bridge full of cars and buses that had a two hundred meter drop before reaching the waters below. Geoff hesitated as we walked further and called to us as soon as we were about to enter.

"Now we shouldn't be wandering off too far, like I said I can't risk getting you two into trouble."

Riley scoffed and ran ahead, "Relax, there's nothing in that bridge. We'll just look around that's all." I caught up with Riley and joined her, he grumbled something about teenagers and unwillingly followed us.

Little did we know that we would soon be regretting this decision.

* * *

"Wow, look at all these cars." Riley said as she clambered to the top of a minivan.  
Geoff shook his head, "Yeah, in the beginning of the outbreak thousands of people tried to leave the city, it only resulted in gettin' more Infected. The poor bastards."

"Were you from the city?" I asked, I should've guessed due to his general nature.  
"No, I was raised in the rural areas, back in Arizona."  
"Damn, that's pretty far." I exclaimed.

Riley was ahead of us and started to climb on the sides, she balanced herself on the rusted poles that supported the bridge and looked out over the river.  
"Nice view!" she yelled from above, I was uneasy watching her so vulnerable and that it would only be a tiny slip that would make her fall off from the bridge.

"R-Riley I don't think that's a good idea." I said in a loud voice so she could hear me.

"Quit foolin' around and get down from there, girl!" Geoff ordered, he was just as worried as I was. Something was strangely unusual about this bridge, and I wasn't the only one who sensed it.

I heard her sigh and eventually she started to scale downwards, "Fine. You guys really need to lighten up-"

**BANG!**

It happened so quick, I saw a bullet fire. It's as if everything slowed down. It hit her. It hit Riley in the shoulder plate. She closed her eyes and the shot threw her back, I watched in terror as I saw her plummet towards the waters below.

"RILEY!" I screamed, running towards the sides. I looked down and checked furiously for any signs of her. I screamed her name again, hoping that she would miraculously pop up from the harsh currents.

"Shit, goddamn Hunters! Ellie, we have to go-"  
"NO!" I yelled back, still trying to call Riley. I hadn't noticed that my screams were getting wilder, she couldn't be gone. She couldn't fucking do this to me.  
"Screw it, come on!" Geoff barked and lifted me up, he carried me as the both of us ran back to the QZ. I yelled and flailed my arms, demanding to be put down.

"What the fuck, Geoff? Riley's still down there! Let me down!" I shouted as I heard the angry voices of Hunters behind me.

Another gunshot rang out, but it seemed more like a warning to us and to anyone who dared to cross that bridge. Geoff ignored my protests and sprinted towards the entrance gates, he used the tunnel we had entered before and in just thirty minutes we were back at the hideout.

The sun was about to set, Geoff directed me to my room and placed me down. I wasn't sure if I was crying the whole time or screaming. Probably both. My eyes were swollen and red as I wiped the tears from it.

"Ellie-"  
"We have to go back" I said in a crumbling voice. He sighed and knelt down so that his height was only inches taller to mine.

"I know this is hard for you but we can't just go back now. Marlene's coming soon and I'm sure she'll know what to do." he said in a calm and understanding voice.  
"Don't you get it?" I replied curtly, "Riley's still down there and we're just sitting in this fucking room doing jackshit!" I spat, unaware that my profanity had increased drastically. Geoff sighed and looked at me with rigged eyes.

"Ellie... you know nobody could survive that."  
"No." I refused to believe it.  
"You saw it. You know."  
"Stop..." I muttered angrily, tears forming in my eyes again. She isn't dead. She isn't. She isn't.

"The currents were too hard, the shot knocked her unconscious. The chances of surviving are really-"  
"Shut the fuck up!" I shot back, standing up from my chair.

"Sorry. I just... just leave me alone. Please." I covered my face with my hands, I heard Geoff say something about how sorry he was and left the room.

"It's not true." I muttered to myself, "It can't be."

I walked over to Riley's mattress and found her backpack lying on it. I reluctantly opened it and found her old Firefly tag. I felt tears dripping on my cheeks as I examined her name that was engraved on the metal, painful memories seeped through my eyes and I was taken aback to our first confrontation at the boarding school. I held the chain dearly and closed my eyes, a voice echoed in my head over and over, as if trying to persuade me that what happened was a reality.

"Fuck!" I yelled as I covered my face again, this time I was hysterical. I sobbed loudly, tears streamed down my face furiously. Life had to kick you while you were still down, it just wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for the both of us, Riley could still be alive. She had to be.

No. I had to face the truth, the inevitable. As much as I hated the fact, she couldn't have survived that drop. Could she?  
I cried loudly as the thought raced through my head. _She's gone._

Riley was gone.

* * *

**You all probably hate me now, oh well.  
Thanks for reading, the story isn't over yet!  
-Taco**


	11. Flashbacks

**Chapter Eleven: Flashbacks**

* * *

The door creaked open slightly, I was still sitting on the mattress, holding the tag closely to my chest. I had sensed that it was Marlene, she stood in the doorway for a few seconds after finally speaking up.

"Hey." she said.  
"Hi." I replied with a hoarse voice, I let out a small cough and wiped away any remaining tears that covered my eyelids.

There was silence in the room again, both of us were waiting for the other to start the conversation, Marlene took the opportunity before I could do it myself.

"Do you want to talk about-"  
"No." I said, ending her offer. My eyes darted at the wall while my trembling fingers grazed the metal of the chain. I was in no way interested in discussing the situation I was in at the moment.

"I.. I need some time to figure everything out. Alone. Please."

Marlene sighed and sat next to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. She ignored my reaction as I flinched from the contact; this was the only time I witnessed Marlene showing actual sympathy for me.

"I'm sorry." she whispered softly.

I said nothing, my eyes burned as I tried my best to hide the tears away from her. Marlene eventually stood up and headed towards the door, before exiting the room she paused, her back facing me.

"If you need anything, anything at all, just come to me. I'm here."

I paused and sighed, grateful that she was sympathetic and understanding. "Okay."

The door closed quietly and I was in solitude again. I placed Riley's Firefly chain inside my own backpack. Reluctantly, I unrolled my right sleeve to unveil the horrid scar, a voice rang through my head, and everything around me morphed into a different environment. I was back at the mall, and Riley was there, embracing me softly. I felt a familiar sting on my right arm as I noticed that it was fresh and bleeding heavily. This must've been the events shortly after I was bitten.

"_...Riley?" I mumbled.  
_"_Yeah?"_

"_Don't go." I pleaded softly, covering my face with her shoulder.  
_"_I'm not leaving you, Ellie."_

"_I'm not letting you go."_

"Stop..!" I shook my head as I tried to forget the scene, it was no use. What happened to not leaving me, Riley? What happened to our promise? Why did we have to leave you behind? _Why?_

"It's not fair.." I bit my lip, allowing the fire inside me to burn brighter. I punched my pillow over and over again until my arm withered in exhaustion.  
"It's not fucking fair..." I whimpered, burying my face into the pillow.

After several minutes of self-loathing and weeping, I eventually cried myself to sleep. Old memories replayed inside of my head as I started drifting off into the deep oblivion.

* * *

**Flashback #1**

"Listen, you little shit, are you gonna hand it over or what?" the boy sneered, he wore a white shirt that smelled of the sewers. _What a prick,_ he even had his own crony with him just in case he needed backup. I looked around, the kids in this school seemed to care less when it came to situations like this.

"Why don't you just leave me alone and fuck off?" I spat back and turned away from him, as soon as I was about to walk away and enter the building the boy grabbed my shoulders and stripped away my overcoat where my Walkman was tucked in.

"Ah, there it is." he grinned, reaching for the jacket's pocket.  
"Touch my stuff and you'll regret it."

He laughed, "Kid, you're just talking out of your ass-"

**WHAM! **I landed my fist straight at his face, I felt the bridge of his nose give out a crack and the boy howled in pain. Before I could bend down to grab my jacket he threw a punch on my left cheek, blood was spilling from the side of my lip as I fell from the impact.

"Fuuuck. You gotta be the dumbest new kid to ever step off that bus." He gritted his teeth as he wiped the blood off his nose, "Pick her up."  
The boy behind him complied and propped me up, positioning me in a headlock. _So this is how he wanted to play it, huh._

"I warned you not to touch my stuff." I said flatly, glaring at him, "But I would've pulled my punches if I knew how fragile you are."

I was supposed to regret saying that, but seeing his face burn in anger was amusing and worth it in it's own way. He lifted me up by the shirt with his fist raised, ready to be thrown at me.

"I'm going to take what I want _and _I'm gonna kick your scrawny ass." he threatened.  
"Fight me one on one, you chickenshit!" I grinned, brows furrowed angrily at him. If he wanted a fight, so be it.

"Keep it up you little bitch-" But before he could lay a punch on me a hand restricted him from doing so. I looked to my left and saw a girl. She was wearing a crimson jacket with a faded green hood covering her head, I would've mistaken her for a boy if she hadn't spoken up.

"Let's make this fight a bit more fair." she smiled mischievously, with little effort she threw the boy on the ground with force and afterwards kicked the other kid in the stomach, he coughed up blood and staggered to the floor, fleeing afterwards when he recovered.

Before the boy with the white shirt could get up, she delivered a nice uppercut that sent him to the floor again. I heard kids around us rooting for her, laughing and cheering as if it was all a game.

The girl bent down and grabbed him by the collar, her hood was off and I could picture her clearly now. Her hair was tied to a bun while her dark skin seemed to glow as the setting sun shone on us.

"I should stomp your fucking balls." she growled, making the boy whimper softly. She released the grip and almost instantly he sprinted away, catching up with his goofy sidekick as they hid from the mocks of the people around them.

"What spectacular fuckwads!" she laughed, "So what'd they want?"

I groaned and picked up my jacket from the floor, tucking my Walkman inside it's pocket.  
"Something not their's." I replied, "I had it covered."

"Yeah, I can see that." she said sarcastically, lifting a brow.

The girl placed her hands inside her pockets casually. "Here's some advice: Have someone watch your back, try and make some friends before-"  
I turned to her irritably, "Did I ask for your advice?" Being jumped on my first day in yet another military school wasn't my ideal expectation, so it definitely set me on a grumpy mood.

The girl stared at me, and I stared back at her, I attempted to use my awesome telepathy skills to tell her that I didn't need her help. Sadly it didn't work, but it seemed that she got my hint.

"You got some serious trust issues, new kid." she chuckled, walking off.  
But something caught her attention, she stopped in her tracks and faced me, giving me one last cheeky smile.

"One more piece of advice: Run."  
"What?" I asked, confused. "Why?"  
"You're just going to have to trust me!"

She bumped me hard on the shoulder as she ran past, I looked around, everyone else was running in the same direction. What was the deal with this place?

I figured it out shortly after. I turned to my left and there loomed a tall man, he seemed to be one of the guys who runs this place. _So that's who they were running from. _He looked down at me, obviously unhappy about creating a ruckus on my first day.

"My office. _Now_." the man snarled.  
I sighed and followed him, _this day just keeps getting better and better._

* * *

**Two Weeks Later:**

"Ellie, you ready?" Geoff called out, replacing his magazine with a new one as he fastened it onto the rifle. I zipped up my backpack and flinged it to my side.

"Yeah." I answered back.

It was early in the morning and I would be taken out of Boston today. I had been coping with Riley's death quite well for the past two weeks, but just mentioning her name made me grimace and shudder. _Okay, maybe I haven't been dealing with it quite well._

"Well, kid. Today's the day, Marlene's gonna take you to another hideout before you set off. I gotta stay here with the others, though." He said softly, eyes downcast. Despite being a dick to Geoff not too long ago he had helped me through my struggles without a single complaint. Sadness rushed through me as I realized that he wouldn't come along with us to the Capitol.

"That totally blows." I sighed, crossing my arms.  
"Yeah."

Geoff looked up at me and placed both of his hands on my shoulders,  
"Listen, take care of yourself out there. Try to not get into trouble okay? You're a great kid. I'm sorry about Riley."

I twitched a little by the sound of her name but I understood what he meant. I was really going to miss this guy. Before thinking, I hugged Geoff tightly, closing my eyes as I cherished on what seemed to be my last moments with him.

"Thank you Geoff, for everything, really." I smiled, he sighed softly and eventually embraced me as well.  
"It's nothin', Ellie." He chuckled lightly.

I let go off my grip as soon as Marlene entered the room, Geoff stood up and nodded at her. Before we left for the other hideout I turned to him, smiled, and bid him farewell.

"Bye." I said, catching one last glimpse of Geoff. Surprisingly, I could see him shed a single tear quietly as he waved back at me, eyes full of hope and sorrow knowing that I might never see him again.

"Bye."

* * *

**Flashback #2**

After being yelled at by Mr. Authority I was assigned for cleaning duty. _You heard us, clean our vehicles in exchange for justice and democracy for all!_ That sounded like America, all right.

My mind lingered on that mysterious girl, her words trailed off in my head as she growled at the prick who threatened to steal my Walkman.  
"I should stomp your fucking balls..." I mimicked, cleaning the bloodied jeep with a soggy towel.

"_Fuuuck. You gotta be the dumbest new kid to ever step off that bus." _His gruff voice whispered into my ear, snarling.

"I should stomp your fucking balls..." I muttered again. After cleaning the jeep I reached for my jacket to get my Walkman from it's pocket. To my surprise, it wasn't there.

"Where...?" I stammered. _Where the hell did it go? I swear it was just in there, who else would have gotten it? It could probably be that gi-  
_"Oh my god." I gritted my teeth furiously as I finally realized why she bumped into me as she ran.

_"Oh my god she fucking stole it!"  
_

_.._

_.._

_.._

Half an hour later I marched towards the canteen, eyes scanning for that fucking thief. As I walked I overheard a conversation that caught my attention.

"No way the Fireflies would do that." the familiar voice said. _Aha, found you.  
_"Whole jeep got shot up, I heard three soldiers died."  
"They must've been provoked, or cornered." she argued.

A guy sitting across her sighed, "Careful now, you need to watch what you're saying. If anyone heard you-"  
But she interjected him, "And your skinny ass needs to stop believing everything they tell you in the classrooms. It's more complicated than-"

I've heard enough.

"Where is it?" I demanded, interrupting their conversation. The girl squinted her eyes at me, as if trying to identify who I was. After a couple of seconds of strange analyzing she lifted her eyebrows in delight.

"Hey, new kid!" she beamed. One of her brows were arched, "How's your first day in hell going?"  
I ignored her antics, "My Walkman. Give it to me."

She smiled with smug, "What makes you think I'd take anything of _yours?_"

"I _don't think. _I _know_ you took it." I said flatly, "You're a pretty lousy thief."

The girl crossed her arms as I shot a glare at her. _Just give it to me already,_ I thought.

"Fine, new kid. You got shit taste in music anyway" she laughed, throwing the Walkman at me. I caught it as it fumbled in my arms, the dudes at the table snickered cheekily at me.

_Fucking assholes._

..

..

It was evening, the room I moved in reeked of cats and hairballs. The only sound emitted was that of the floorboards creaking, it wasn't much of a nuisance until the _thump thump_ of footsteps grew louder and louder. My curiosity obviously got the best of me as I opened the door and checked outside.

I snaked to the end of the hallway and noticed her open the double doors. The same girl who saved me from that asshole, and the same girl who took my Walkman. I sneaked up behind her and lightly tapped her shoulder. She flinched and turned, the expression on her face was priceless.

"Jesus, new kid!" she whispered loudly.  
I laughed, "Here's some advice: Get people to watch your back" She didn't take too lightly at my joke.

"Go back to bed, new kid!" she ordered, pointing to my dorm.  
I was stubborn of course, I didn't let her go that easily.

"You're gonna show me how to sneak out of this place." I told her.  
The girl rubbed her forehead, "Oh fuck off, new kid. You are unbelievable." It was starting to get redundant with the whole gimmick she was putting up.

I crossed my arms, "We can argue until someone hears us and we get caught _or_ we can help each other."  
"And stop calling me _new kid_. I have a name." I finished, the girl stared at me and I stared back. After the longest time a faint smile was plastered on her face.

"Think you can keep up with me?"  
I smirked, "Not an issue."

She opened the double doors and we were outside the building, the night breeze blew against us and I shuddered as it hit me.  
"Don't make me regret this, Ellie." she as she winked at me.

"How-"  
"C'mon." she cut me off and guided the both of us to an iron fence that was about 15 feet high, we scaled it effortlessly until we reached the top.

Afterwards, I asked her the same question before she interrupted me.

"How do you know my name?"  
She shrugged, "I have my ways. You seem crazy enough to be interesting."

The girl stuck out a hand at me as she clung to the fence with the other, "Name's Riley. You ready to do this, Ellie?"  
I eagerly shook her hand and smiled at my new acquaintance, today was going to be an interesting one.

"Yup."

* * *

**If this chapter confused you let me just explain right here: The flashbacks take place when Ellie meets Riley for the first time. Basically it's just a switching of timelines, back and forth, back and forth. We'll probably have a semi-flashback story in the next chapter :)**

**Ellie is 13 while Riley is 15 in the Flashbacks.  
Ellie is currently 14 and Riley is 16.**

**Once again thank you for all the feedback, you people are wonderful. 'Til the next one!  
-Taco**


	12. Alive

**Chapter Twelve: Alive**

**Note: The book cover has changed, again. Don't be alarmed when something like this happens, heh!**

* * *

**TWO WEEKS EARLIER:  
****Riley's POV:**

I awoke with an unbearable headache. I looked up and all I could see was the starry sky gazing back at me. The soft cackles of what I predicted was a campfire seemed to calm my senses. Dazed, I tried to recall what had happened before.

"Ellie..." I whispered. _Shit, was she okay?_

I attempted to get up from the grass but immediately fell back as a sharp and immense pain stabbed through my left shoulder.  
"Ah..! Fuck." I hissed, grabbing it tightly.

_Jeez, getting shot in almost the same spot twice wasn't really fair. _I clenched my jaw as I got on my feet.  
_Okay. Step one, find Ellie._

"You might wanna take it easy." a voice said plainly to my right. I flinched and turned to the direction, taking my pistol out of its holster as I aimed for the figure, but raising it with my left arm was a bad idea. I groaned and hoisted the gun up with my right instead.

"Whoa..." he said as he stood up, "Did I say something wrong?"  
I looked at him from top to bottom, he was probably my age if not older. His chocolate brown hair and light skin complemented his rigged and attractive appearance, I shook my head. _Cute, but not my type._

"Sorry." I sighed as I placed my pistol back in place. "It's a little instinct I have."  
He lowered his arms and placed them inside the pockets of his baggy jeans. "Well, thank you for not killing me."

The boy sat down on the log and poked a stick at the fire, his black leather jacket seemed to be drenched in water.

"We found you lying on some rocks on the side of a river back in the outskirts of Boston. You were bleeding pretty bad." he said as he pointed at my bandaged shoulder with the stick. I was no longer wearing my hoodie, instead my white tank top that I wore underneath it was revealed so that they could nurse my wound.

"_We?_" I asked.

The boy nodded, "Yeah. My Dad, he used to be a doctor. You're pretty lucky for surviving that, could've bled to death."

_Lucky. Pfft.  
_If there was one thing about this world, it was that luck ran out pretty quickly.

"So," he exclaimed, "what happened to you?"  
I shrugged, "Got shot off a bridge."  
"Yikes." He said.  
"Yeah."

"Were you with anyone when you uh, got shot?"

I stared absent-mindedly at the campfire, the chirps of crickets filled the air, the boy waited awkwardly for my reply. All I could think about was what happened after the incident. Snapping out of my trance, I stood up, I needed to find Ellie and Geoff, fast.

"Yep. I was, and if you don't mind I gotta catch up with them. Thanks for the hospitality-" but as I tried to move my shoulders a horrific pain shot through it. I grunted as I sat down again, clutching at my upper left arm

"Give me a fucking break." I seethed.

"Kid, as much as I'd like to let you do whatever you want, your wound needs to heal before that. Your shoulderplate's almost shattered, by the looks of the bullet it was a shotgun that got you, surprised that you actually made it." a man said, emerging from the thick foliage. He seemed to be a younger version of Geoff, only with less facial hair. I cocked my head in confusion as he smirked back at me.

"Oh, hey. Where've you been?" the boy asked, I assumed that he was his father.  
"Scouting." the man replied flatly "Name's Darius, and this is my son, Leon." Darius said to me as he gestured to the both of them.

I paused, deciding whether or not I should offer my name. I guess I should, considering these two practically saved my ass.

"Riley." I said, trying my best to ignore the pain.  
"Nice to meet you, Riley." Darius grinned, their demeanor sure was unusual in an environment like this.

But I was wasting time, I needed to find Ellie.

"Hey. Thanks for patching me up and all that but I really need to get going, I got separated from my girlfrie-"  
But I stopped abruptly.

_Did I just say that? Wow._ I spotted Leon chuckle silently as my cheeks burned brightly red.

I continued as if nothing happened "-from my best friend back in Boston and I need to find her as soon as possible. We were assigned to do something in two weeks."

"Two weeks? You've got plenty of time." Darius said.

I scrunched my face in disapproval, "No you don't understa-"  
"Riley, as I told you before you need to strictly limit your movement if you want that wound of yours to heal. It's bad enough that you got shot once, but getting shot again?" he shook his head. "You can rest for two weeks, but we're not letting you go just yet. I still have to treat your injury."

"And why the fuck do you care about my well-being? You just met me." I shot back impatiently, the only thing I wanted to do was to get the hell out of here.

"I've witnessed enough lives being taken away from me. Lives of people who meant a lot to me. And it seems that you mean a lot to this _someone_, I understand that you want to see them, but just running off right now where you're most vulnerable is just suicide."

I was silent, even though I hated the fact, Darius was right.

"Also," he spoke up "You said this friend of yours was in Boston? That's a two day walk from where we are."  
I widened my eyes in disbelief. "The hell, where did you take me when I was unconscious?"

"Dad and I were just leaving the Boston QZ. We kinda stole some horses so that we could travel faster and we figured that if we went by the river no soldiers would spot us escaping. Dad found you all washed up then he placed you on his horse and we went off. He nurtured you for two days." Leon explained.

It took a while to process. "I was unconscious for two days?"  
"Well, one day, actually. But it's almost midnight, so two." he said plainly.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes. Afterwards, Darius cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. "Okay. I'm gonna go tend to the horses for a bit. You two stay here, I'll be back."

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. I didn't know how l was going to be able to tolerate these two weeks getting nurtured by some strangers.

..  
..

"She must be nice." Leon said, smirking.  
I removed my hands from my face, "Who is?"  
"Your so called _girlfriend._"

..  
..

"She's not my girlfriend." I muttered.  
"You paused." he said.  
"I did not."  
"Yes you did."

"Did not."  
"Did too."

"_Ughhhh." _I groaned and turned to him, "You're so fucking annoying."  
"Is she your girlfriend?" Leon asked again, ignoring my insult.

"I don't even know how your dad puts up with you-"  
"Answer my question, Riley."

I sighed, "I don't know, okay! Yes, she is. No maybe she isn't. God, you are so insensitive."  
"I bet you've kissed already-"  
"Fuck off!" I yelled, throwing a pebble at him.

He laughed boisterously as I blushed heavily. Boys are total assholes.

"I would've beaten you up if it weren't for this stupid shoulder."  
He sniffed and wiped away a tear from laughing too hard, "Ooh. Scary."

"Whatever. Well I'm gonna hit the hay. Thanks for saving me, even though you're an asshole."

Leon grinned back at me, "Don't mention it. Oh, try not to develop any feelings for me, alright? I know I'm incredibly charismatic and charming but I wouldn't want to ruin your current relationship. Let's take things slow."

"Like I'd fall for you." I rolled my eyes and sat down on the soft grass again, allowing myself to sleep. Eventually my eyes fluttered to a rest as Leon allowed me to take a nap. I dozed off to the lulls of the crickets peacefully.

I hoped that Ellie was okay.

* * *

**PRESENT DAY:**

Echoes surrounded him, it crept into his ears like ghostly winds, he shuddered as each voice passed by him.

"_...Dad...?"_

…

…

"_...Daddy..?"_

Joel opened his eyes abruptly, trying to find the source of the calls.

"Sarah?" He yelled out, a train of echoes followed shortly after. There was nothing but darkness around him.

..

"_...Dad...!" _she shrieked in distress.

He quickly turned around and spotted her. Eyes widening as he found her feet planted firmly on the imaginary floor, she was staring at a soldier five meters away from her.

"Don't hurt her!" Joel barked, sprinting at the man.

But it was too late.

..

..

The sound of a gunshot reverberated through the invisible walls horrifically.

**BANG!**

* * *

Joel gasped for air, he lifted his upper body from the bed as he panted heavily. He looked around, there was no soldier, no Sarah, nothing.

Joel sighed, _Christ, to hell with these goddamn nightmares. I don't think I can handle another one.  
_There was a faint banging on the door within his earshot, Joel groaned softly as he got up from the bed.

The banging ultimately grew more clearer as he adjusted his hearing, soon enough the impatient knocks had gotten under his skin.

"I'm coming." Joel exclaimed irritably.

* * *

**THREE HOURS LATER  
****Ellie's POV:**

Earlier, Marlene had directed me to another hideout or something; it was an old bakery store. While waiting for her to finish an errand I had resorted to re-read another issue of _Triple Phoenix: Return of the Brothers_ for probably the 200th time.

_Oh, no wait, it's the 201__st__ now. _I thought as I flipped to the first page. I was still hoping to get my hands on the arcade game rather than re-reading the same issue over and over.

Before I could reach to the end, Marlene had opened the door to the back, stumbling forward as she fell. I got up from the chair and decided to help her up, I froze dead in my tracks as I saw a grizzled man pop up from behind her. Instinctively, I grabbed my switchblade from my pocket and ran at him.

"Get the fuck away from her!" I yelled, attempting to drive the knife in him.

"Hey, hey hey-" but someone else stopped me from doing so, she grabbed my wrist tightly and in shock I pulled my arm to break free, it was no use.  
"Let her go." Marlene said calmly. The woman complied and I forcibly yanked my arm back, flummoxed at why Marlene brought two strangers with her.

The man glanced at me for one second, he looked similar to Geoff. Only much older. "You're recruitin' kind of young aren't you?"  
Marlene grunted as she used the counter beside her as support. "She's not one of mine."

My eyes darted to her right abdomen, it was bleeding pretty badly.  
"Shit." I said, walking over to her. "What happened?"

"Don't worry, this is fixable." Marlene replied, struggling through breaths. "I got us help." she continued, referring to the two newcomers.

Her eyes were set upon me, as if trying to find what words to say next.  
"But I can't come with you."

I stared at her, what?  
She can't be serious.

Ever since Riley was gone, I depended on Geoff and Marlene to bring me to the Capitol. Now with neither coming along with me, how was I supposed to mentally go through all this?

"Well then I'm staying-"  
"Ellie." Marlene said.  
"We won't get another shot at this."

_I'm being left alone again._

"Hey – we're smugglin' her?" the man asked as if in disbelief, Marlene took a breath and explained the situation calmly.  
"There's a crew of Fireflies that'll meet you at the Capitol Building."

"That's not exactly close." the woman chimed in.  
Marlene shrugged off her complaint, "You're capable."  
"You hand her off, come back, the weapons are yours. Double what Robert sold me"

"Speaking of which – where are they?" she argued back, acting skeptical with the deal.  
"Back in our camp." Marlene replied.

The woman let out a half-chuckle and turned to the man, his arms crossing as he shook his head, signalling a_ can-you-believe-this-crap_ kind of look.

"We're not smuggling shit until I see them." she said flatly.  
Marlene let out a sigh, "You'll follow me. You can verify the weapons, I can get patched up."

She pointed a weak hand at me, shaking as it was lifted, "But she's not crossing to that part of town. I want Joel to watch over her."

"Whoa, whoa I don't think that's the best idea-"  
"Bullshit, I'm not going with him!"

"Ellie..." Marlene mumbled.  
I glared at her incredulously, I didn't need another stranger shoved into my life.  
"How do you know them?"

"I was close with his brother, Tommy. Said that if I was ever in a jam, I could rely on him."  
"Was it before or after he left your little militia group?" Joel asked in a rhetorical way.  
"He left you too." Marlene shot back. "He was a good man."

"Look, just take her to the north tunnel and wait for me there." the lady said, her bandanna's pattern caught my eye, it was sort of pretty.  
"Jesus Christ..." he murmured.  
"She's just cargo, Joel."

Just cargo. _Sure_.

I turned to Marlene, trying my best to persuade her that whatever she was doing was a terrible idea.  
"Marlene..."  
"No more talking. You'll be fine." she assured me. Marlene straightened up and nodded back at Joel, "Now go with him."

I faced Joel, he looked over at the woman.  
"Don't take long." his eyes then proceeded to dart at me.

"And you, stay close."  
I groaned mentally and walked over to the entrance doors, giving one last glance at Marlene as we left the bakery.

"Let's go." Joel said.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen to be released soon!  
****-Taco**


	13. Delay

**Chapter Thirteen: Delay**

**Yo! Quick A/N here. So some of you have been PMing me about Riley and Leon. And here's my answer to your questions:**

**No. I am NOT going to do a RileyxOC, it is and always will be an ElliexRiley pairing. Riley and Leon's kinship is basically like Ellie and Sam's.**  
**That's pretty much it. There, that clear some of the air for you? Sweet! Continue reading!**

**Oh, and thank you for all your support, you're the best as always!**

* * *

**Flashback #3**

We got over the fence and landed on the canopy, hopping from building to building. I still had no idea why Riley wasn't running out of breath at that point, but I couldn't show her that I was struggling. After hopping on to another roof Riley looked back and smirked at me.

"Chop chop, Ellie!"

I picked up my pace and caught up to her. Riley skidded to a stop as we faced at what seemed to be the top of a mall. Exhausted, I bent down and allowed myself to have some rest.

"That...all.. you got..?" I panted heavily.

She gazed at the mall and let out a breath.  
"You ever think about the future?" she asked, eyes still on the horizon.

I looked up at her, "Like the far future... with spaceships and stuff?"  
Riley turned to me, lifting up a brow "Cute."

"I mean _your_ future. What you're gonna do with your life."

I straightened up and thought for a while; they either slam you into the military or throw you out with the rest of the world, then you stick with a crappy job and save up on ration cards. Both futures seemed unappealing to me.

I scratched my neck sheepishly, "Not much to think about, really."  
"That's what they'd like us to believe." Riley said.

"Do as you're told, shut your mouth, and when you're sixteen they put a gun in your hand and turn you into a good little soldier." she shook her head "I'm not spending the rest of my life with some asshole telling me who to shoot and where to shit."

Her words had lingered in my head, Riley always seemed to be the rebellious type.  
"Well, what're you gonna do?" I asked.

"In less than three months I turn sixteen."

_Oh, so she was two years older than me._

"That's how long I have to find a way out." Riley concluded.  
"What else _is_ there?" I scoffed, turning to her. _So you escape the crappy military preparatory school, then what?_ The outside world was a mere mystery for the both of us.

There was a silence, it bugged me that she hadn't answered my question. After a while Riley finally spoke up, prepping herself to jump off to the roof of the mall.

"Have you ever ridden a horse?" she asked.  
I was confused by the sudden change of subject. "What? No."  
Riley flashed a crooked smile and hopped off the building, she landed promptly on the floor and ran over to the open ceiling.

"Follow me." she called out.

* * *

**PRESENT DAY  
Riley's POV:**

"So, how's your shoulder feeling?" Darius inquired.  
"Pretty good." I said.

We were on our horses now. The both of them offered to bring me halfway on horseback, I greatly appreciated their hospitality. To be honest, I wouldn't make it in time if I walked with this condition.

Darius was on his own steed while I was on Leon's, being careful to not be too grabby with him since I was behind. The saddle made it pretty uncomfortable for me to sit down on from the back.

The sun slowly rose up from the ground and the summer breeze replaced the cool night air. It's been two weeks, and in a few hours from now we would reach Boston. I spent my share of those days healing up, arguing with Leon and overthinking about Ellie.

_She probably thinks that I'm dead.  
__Is she handling it pretty well?  
__Oh man, I can't imagine what she's going through right now.  
__I miss her.  
__I promised her I wouldn't leave. I broke it.  
__Fuck, fuckity fuck, fuck._

Those kinds of thoughts had frequently entered in my head, I was too committed to Ellie.

_Wait, committed was too light of a word.  
__How about 'obsessed'?_

Yeah, I was too obsessed with Ellie.  
But I knew that she could handle herself. I just hope that I'd make it in time before she meets up with the crew.

During my stay with them I've learned that Darius had had Leon back in Delaware 3 years after the Infection. His mother had died shortly after giving birth, the same fate that also fell upon Ellie's mom. I couldn't help but feel a little impressed for the two as they survived through the hardships for seventeen years while still having a little morality in them left.

"You sure have been quiet today." Leon broke the silence, Darius was a few good feet away from us, so he couldn't be able to hear our conversation.  
"I'm surprised that it matters to you." I replied plainly, viewing the nature around us.

He sighed, "Well, Riley. This _is_ the final day that I'll ever see your sorry face."  
"Thank god." I joked.

"I'll be honest with you, I kind of enjoyed those two weeks. Even though you were a little bitch most of the time."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"  
"Sure, whatever floats your boat." he shrugged.

We stayed quiet for the most part of the trip, with Leon constantly squirming on the saddle and mumbling about how hot it was while Darius was droning on about his life before the Infection. I honestly couldn't care less, my mind was occupied with something else. And by something else, I mean someone.

I sighed and gazed at the rising sun.

_Almost there, Ellie._

* * *

**Flashback #4**

Riley and I climbed down the mall from the open roof, being careful not to stab myself with the broken glass as I landed. The atmosphere was generally creepy, the fact that this area was strictly off limits didn't help either.

The mall sure was a peculiar place. They had mannequins all propped up in weird postures, posters of stores advertising their shit, and all those ridiculous products that were literally useless today. Surprised me that people actually _bought_ those crap.

But something caught my eye, the bold words **Raja's Arcade** stood out from all the other stores on the floor. My eyes lit up as I found dozens of games inside.  
"Riley, hold up." I said as I ran over to the arcade. I entered inside, several game titles were lined up everywhere. But as I looked over to my right I finally found the one I was searching for.

"No fucking way." I exclaimed, heading to the system.

The screen was cracked, but I didn't care. I tapped on the buttons repetitively, imagining myself playing the game.

"Triple Phoenix!" I exclaimed with eyes twinkling "I read about this game! It's this super popular three-player brawler. It's based on a cartoon about these three pigeons that mutated when-"

Riley mocked my taste "_Triple Phoenix?_ That game is for _children_."

She walked over to a dusty arcade system, it had the words **The Turning** with a dark and bloody font. The side had a picture of a girl that looked similar to Riley, only this time with braided hair and an extremely bushy ponytail. Her hands were wrapped with what seemed like blades that made it appear that she had razor sharp claws coming out of her knuckles.

"You wanna talk games? _This_ is a real game." Riley beamed, basking in it's glory.  
"Hardcore one-on-one fighter with hundreds of combos and this insane boss fight!"

"There's this character called Angel Knives. She's got this finishing move where she punches a hole through her enemy's chest, then kicks his head clean off!" she explained, amused at my appalled reaction. "Who'd fuck with her right?"

"Man... kids back then were so fucking lucky." I said, feeling a little bit of envy as I imagined tons of people coming in and out of this place, lining up while eagerly waiting for their turn at the games.

Must've been nice.

Riley closed her eyes and let out a breath.  
"C'mon, we're wasting time." she replied flatly as she turned around to leave the arcade. I followed her shortly after, giving one last look at the place before finally making my way to the ground floor.

..  
Those _lucky_ kids were already dead. They wouldn't stand a chance.  
..

We climbed down a broken escalator and found ourselves standing before a tent, the faint smell of whiskey lingered in the area, I scrunched my nose in disapproval.

"What're we doing here?" I asked.  
"You'll see."

Riley then took a step forward and placed her hands on her hips. "You in there, old man?" she shouted.

A man probably in his early 50s emerged from the tent. He wore a sheepskin Russian fur hat that covered his ears snuggly with its flaps. His long navy trench coat hanged right below his knees. He also had a beard that was begging to be shaved, the appearance was unusual for a military soldier.

"Stop yellin', I ain't deaf." the man said gruffly in a southern-ish accent.  
"Who's this?" he inquired, pointing a finger at me "Goddammit, Riley. Every time you bring another kid here, you risk getting me in trouble."

She brought other people in here too?

"Relax. She's cool." Riley said as she turned to me.  
"Ellie, this _charming_ individual here is Winston. Winston, this is Ellie."  
"Hey..." I greeted humbly, waving a hand at him.

Winston grumbled and sat cross-legged on the floor. Okay_, _I'll take that as a hi.

"You at least bring me a little somethin'?" he asked.

Riley flashed a smile and promptly took out a bottle of Scotch from the inside of her jacket. "_Boosh!_ Courtesy of head asshole of the school. I'm sure he meant to give it to you eventually, for all your hard work protecting this shithole." she chuckled. I'm surprised that that thing hadn't broken from all those amateur parkour stunts we did earlier.

Riley handed the bottle to Winston, he took it willingly and squinted his eyes to scan the label.  
"_Gleffendich Solera reserve fifteen-year single malt, all the way from Scotland..._" he read aloud. Winston laughed lightly and took the cork out.

"Fuck the Infected for all time for robbin' me of such wonderful things." he said to no one in particular, drinking the liquor generously. I gave a bewildered look, I never really got the thing with adults and their alcoholic pleasures.

Winston coughed and covered the bottle and looked up at the both of us.  
"All right, Riley. What is this gonna cost me?"

Riley took a step back, clutching her chest. "I'm insulted! I can't just bring an old friend a gift out of the goodness of my heart?" she whined, acting hurt.  
He groaned "No. Not you."

"I want you to teach little Ellie here how to ride, she's never been on a horse before." Riley said plainly. I was going to object her by not calling me little, but Winston interrupted me.

"That it?" he got up and stretched "Well, you know where to find the old girl."

Riley led me to another room not too far from Winston's camp. I hesitated to come any closer as I spotted the shadow of a horse in the corner of the room, heartily chewing on one of the hay bales.

"That there is Princess." Riley smirked.  
"Princess?" I scoffed.  
"It's a nice name, Ellie." she rolled her eyes.

Riley walked over to the horse and grabbed her reins. "C'mere." she hollered at me.  
I reluctantly complied and Riley handed the reins to me "Here, hold her for a sec. Don't worry, she won't bite."

I petted Princess lightly on the nose as Riley went off to get the saddle.  
"Hey there..." I cooed, opening myself up to my newly-made friend.  
"Okay. He'll walk you through the basics, just remember to stay calm. If you tense up, she'll tense up." Riley said, hoisting the saddle on the horse's back.

"You know, she smells kinda nice." I said, scratching the back of her ears.  
"Of course she does, she's not like the livestock that we have at school. Horses have an aroma, it's cows and pigs that stink."

Riley handed me the lead "Oh and Winston is lazy. Don't let him cut your ride short. Make sure he takes you at least one time around the whole mall."

As I ignored her 'advice', I started to contemplate on her words that she had said earlier,  
_That's how long I have to find a way out._  
A way out to what? What was the whole point of her bringing me to the mall? There had to be a reason behind it. Why she sneaked out, why she brought me here. I needed to know.

"Are you trying to get kicked out?" I asked her out of the blue, she froze abruptly.  
"Break enough rules and they toss you with the general population." I continued "Is that what you're gonna do?"

Riley fixed the saddle again and rubbed her hands together. It was silent for a while.  
"No, that's not the answer." she replied softly.

"Those people get assigned some shitty job for the city and they barely get enough rations to scrape by." Riley shook her head "You still end up a _slave_ to the system."

We were quiet, the both of us led Princess back to the camp, making sure that everything was all set. After what appeared to be the longest time, Riley spoke up.

"Just... enjoy this ride. Okay?"  
I nodded slightly, stroking Princess' mane  
"Okay."

* * *

**PRESENT DAY  
FIVE HOURS LATER  
Riley's POV:**

It was probably noon when we finally reached the destination, I yawned loudly from my lack of sleep and turned sideways.  
"Well, kid. Here we are." Darius said, slowing to a halt.

I dismounted off of Leon's horse and stared at the blood spattered sign, **Boston City – 3 miles ahead.**

Okay, so here I was with nothing but a 9mm pistol and three cans of beans inside of my pouch. I looked back and found Leon with his head low, not bothering to give one last look at me before I went off.

"Erm, thanks." I shifted awkwardly. I had no idea how I was going to sneak in the QZ without being caught, I remembered the tunnel route that led to the hideout, but it was on the other side of the QZ, where the bridge was.

I took a deep breath.  
_You can do this, Riley. You're gonna find a way in, and you'll reach Ellie in no time, you got this. Okay? Okay. _I told myself.

I broadened my shoulders and nodded at Darius, "Well. See you around, I guess. Um." I obviously wasn't the best with saying heartbreaking goodbyes.  
"Good luck." Darius called out.

Leon lifted his head and stared at me, giving out one last sad-ish wave before the both of them turned their horses around. I sighed and did the same, not bothering to look back.

Well, that is until I heard a gunshot.

_**BLAM!**_

Darius' horse cried out as it stumbled onto the rocky ground. I spun around, Leon immediately got off his colt and rushed over to him.  
_What the fuck? Seriously?  
_"Dad!" he yelped, lifting up his father with one arm. "Get up, get up, get up!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Darius jabbered, grimacing as he got back on his feet. Realizing how vulnerable I was out in the open I hurried over to a large tree and hid there momentarily. I dared myself to take a peek, a group of three men emerged from the shadowy foliage, each of them with a loaded gun on their hands. Leon's horse stood up on it's hind legs, whinnied, and ran off to God-knows-where.

"Nice to see you again, eh doc? You know, you made it pretty easy for us to track you down." the middle one grinned, gesturing to the horse tracks on the path. His outfit was predictable, it was a Hunter – and most likely the leader.

"The deal is off." Darius snarled, pronouncing each world slowly. I glanced over at Leon and found himself quivering in fright, not bothering to set up a courageous bravado for the Hunters. It was amusing.

_Really, Riley? Are you seriously making fun of him in a time like this? _I mentally kicked myself for being a dick and continued on watching.

"We need the meds, doc. Just hand them over and there ain't gonna be no trouble." the leader gripped his gun tightly "Unless, of course, you'd like someone to get hurt."

Darius furrowed his brows and shielded Leon in defense.  
"Gavin, if you lay a finger on my boy-"

He cut him off, "I'd rather not. But if you continue keepin' this up..."  
The other two men aimed both of their rifles at Leon,  
"...then I'm afraid that I'll have to change my mind."

Leon gulped and shoved away his father's arm. "I'm n-not scared of them, Dad. It's okay." he squeaked.  
Gavin laughed loudly, his booming voice made the tree trunk vibrate slightly and I shuddered. After his cackling, he wiped an invisible tear from his eye.  
"Sorry. That was funny. Now, where was I?"

He glared at Darius and flashed another grin, this time it was more menacing than the first.

"Ah, right. The _meds._"  
"I don't have them." Darius spat back angrily.  
"Bullshit."  
"I'm not giving it to you, either way."  
Gavin sighed and walked towards him "You know, doc. I don't wanna do this, really, I don't. But you're givin' me no choice." He grabbed a wooden bat from his bag and swung it on Darius' back, hard.

I looked away, the clear sound of a _crack _could be heard even from a far distance.

"No!" Leon screamed, trying to cover his father. But the two Hunters grabbed him from behind and restricted him from doing anything else. Darius yelled in agony and crumpled to the ground.

"I ain't gonna kill you of course, I mean, you _know_ where the meds are." Gavin smirked and turned to Leon "But sadly your son here ain't got much of a good chance of survivin'."  
"Don't hurt him!" Darius pleaded, grimacing in pain.

"It all depends on you, doc." Gavin replied "Now, I'm gonna ask you one more time."  
He lowered his head to look down at him and gritted his teeth.  
"Where. Is. The. Medicine?"

Darius paused and finally spoke up, "C-Cambridge.. you cross the Longfellow Bridge...it's t-there..I promise.. just don't.. don't hurt him..." he whimpered. _Longfellow bridge, _I remembered. It was where I got shot off, down into the Charles River. Were these guys the same Hunters that ambushed us?

Gavin smiled, "See, now was that so hard?" he turned to the two men and nodded, aiming his rifle at Leon.  
"Dad!" he cried out, trying as hard as he could to break free, it was useless.  
"You said you wouldn't!" Darius yelled, trying to get up. Gavin delivered a sharp blow using his rifle butt and he was on the floor again.

"I didn't say anythin' about not hurtin' the boy, doc." he chuckled.  
_These guys were so fucked up.  
_He lifted his rifle and aimed for Leon's head.

"Don't!" Darius cried

I couldn't take it anymore, I got out of hiding and pulled my pistol out, aiming at his forehead.

"Hey, asswipe!" I yelled at Gavin. And just according to the plan that I've crafted exactly 2 seconds ago, he spun to my direction. The look of intimidation on his face was quickly replaced with sudden fear for a split second.

I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen to be released soon, thanks for reading!  
****-Taco**


	14. Rush

**Chapter Fourteen: Rush**

**Okay, okay, I changed the book cover AGAIN. But I like it now, I actually put some effort on it for once. I don't know, sorry if it bugs you that I keep changing it! Hehe**

* * *

**BANG!**

Gavin's body withered to the ground. Half of his head was missing, blood spurted out from all directions before I could look away from the brutal scene.  
The body fell on Darius – who in turn screamed in panic as the blood was slathered on him. He pushed the corpse away and turned to the direction of the gunshot. An uneasy smile lit up on his face as he began to recognize my presense, thankful that I had just saved his son.

I looked over at Leon, who was just as shocked as his father. The two Hunters were unresponsive, obviously stunned by the fact that I had just killed their leader.

My hands shook terribly as I realized what I had done.  
I killed another man.

Darius' smile quickly faded as his eyes darted to something near me.  
"Behind you!" he yelled, and immediately the sounds of a horse's gallops were approaching me at full speed.

I turned around, and in horror I found a horse-riding, jaw clenching, deranged Hunter sprinting at me. His mind was set on my death after what I had done to Gavin.

"Oh_ fuck _me." I cursed, preparing to run.

But the colt was too fast, the man lifted the steel pipe in his hand and swung it at me at full-force.

**WHAM**

The pain quickly flowed through my body, my head felt like exploding and I was thrown into the ground. I heard Leon call my name in distress as I coughed up the blood that gurgled into my mouth.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, my head was throbbing immensely. The last thing I heard were the sounds of a rifle's gunshot, followed by the unidentified cries of pain.

..

All went silent as I proceeded to black out.

* * *

**Ellie's POV:**

"Jesus Christ."  
The two of them stared at each other, they weren't supposed to know.  
This wasn't part of the fucking plan.

"Marlene set us up?" Joel said in shock, holding the CBI scanner in his hand.

The rain poured on us softly, we were nothing but shadows in the dark. But in that moment I could see total disbelief in both of their eyes.

"Why the hell are we smugglin' an Infected girl?" he spat in his southern drawl, snapping to my direction as if trying to stop himself from shooting me. I shivered in my little corner, trying to find the right words to say.

"I-I'm not Infected." I stammered, shaking my head.  
_Wow, they were totally gonna believe that, Ellie.  
_"No?" Joel said sarcastically "So was this lyin'?" he tossed the scanner beside me without effort.

I swallowed a lump in my throat, "I can explain."

"You better explain fast." the woman whom I now knew as Tess said, lifting her gun up a little to silently tell me that I had limited time.  
I fumbled around and got my right arm, unrolling my sleeve to unveil the scar.  
"Look at this!" I said to both of them.

Joel waved a hand and looked away shortly after seeing it, "I don't care how you got Infected."

His remark provoked me a bit, but I shrugged it off. "It's three weeks old."  
Tess pointed her gun loosely at me "No, everyone turns in less than two days so you _stop bullshitting-_"  
"It's three weeks. I swear." I pleaded "Why would she set you up?"

If they weren't Marlene's first choice (or second, or third) then she wouldn't have improvised_ that_ quickly; they had to give me credit for the point I'd proven.  
But Joel shook his head, "I ain't buying it."

I scoffed and started to object, but before I could I heard the sounds of a truck rolling towards us nearby. The soldiers we killed most likely sent reinforcements.

And they were coming our way.

"Oh shit."

"Tess. Run." Joel ordered, but the two of us were frozen in place as we saw the headlights of the truck shine ever so brightly after each second passed by.

_"RUN!"_ he shouted.

* * *

**Flashback #5**

"Up ya go." Winston grunted as he helped me lift myself up onto Princess. She gave a little whinny from the sudden drop but eased to rest as I stroked her head.

Before we headed off, Winston yanked his head back and glared at Riley – who was sulking around his camp like a vulture.  
"It's my alcohol, Riley. Keep your paws off." he said sternly, pointing a finger at her.  
Riley scoffed and placed her hands firmly on her hips "Oh please, I got my own stash."

Winston let out a sigh and we were off, walking in a steady pace as I fixed myself on the mare.  
"That girl, she's trouble if I ever saw it." he grumbled, gripping the reins tightly in his hand.

I chuckled and smiled faintly, resting my hands on the saddle's horn. What Winston said was sort of true, and I guess Riley and I both shared a little something in common.

"Yeah... I like her." I mumbled, sparking a little interest.  
I shook my head lightly. _No, Ellie. C'mon._

We were quiet, but it didn't matter. The two of us were looking around the remains of the mall, its walls full of graffiti and the windows broken and cracked. It was really hard to believe that this was once a place full of people just going on with their lives – not having a care in the world.

I looked at Winston who was walking ahead.  
"What was this place like? Before the Infection." I asked curiously. Winston laughed softly and took a breath.  
"Well, when I was your age, I did my share of skipping school. I'd meet with my friends, grab a burger, watch a movie..."

"...try and fail to make out with Roberta Coen." And to this remark Winston gave a pitiful cackle.

I lifted a brow. _Roberta Coen,_ whoever she was. I would've pay millions to see a younger version of Winston hit on a girl that was _way_ out of his league. Wish we had a fucking time machine, though.

He continued, "Rain or shine, place was always packed. During the holidays it was like being in a can of sardines. I miss the holiday lights, everyone was all stressed out trying to buy gifts, but you felt this sort of..."

"...magic cheer in the air." he concluded.

I looked around, imagining people going up and down the escalators. There were children messing around at the indoor playground, there were adults toasting their wines at fancy cuisines, there were families buying gifts at the stores and most of all, there was a safe and calm feeling in the world.

A feeling in which you didn't have to look back every fucking second to check if there was an Infected on your tail. Or keep your head low as to not be seen by a pack of Hunters. I wish I could've lived in a world like that – just for a little while.

"Listen to me, gettin' all nostalgic on you." Winston sighed as he brushed Princess' mane softly.

"I don't mind."

I really didn't. It's nice to just sit down by the warm fire and share stories with your friends.

_Oh, that was in my bucket list_. Sit down by the warm fire and share stories with my friends._ (If you counted a juvenile delinquent, an aged military soldier and a horse as friends)_

After our first trip around the mall Winston handed me the reins.  
"Think you can ride her around?" he smirked.  
"Uh, how do I do that?"

"You use your arms and legs, here." he replied, holding my forearm "Give her a soft little kick to tell 'er that she needs to go faster. Then you guide her with the reins to show 'er which direction to go. Yank the reins back when you want her to stop."

Winston laid out the tutorials and I absorbed every bit of information he told me. When he was finished, he stood back, giving the spotlight to me.

I took a breath and followed his instructions. In no time flat Princess galloped gracefully in a large circle. I felt her muscles flex as she moved and heard her rapid breaths go in and out, I never thought riding a horse felt so... _alive._

Eventually I had to give Princess a break, I slowed her pacing and went back to Winston. He gave me a bright grin, one that I had never seen on his face before.  
"You sure ride better than most people I know." he said, I was all too flattered by his compliment.

"That was kind of awesome. Thanks, Winston!"  
"Yeah, sure." he shrugged modestly.

..

"Well, I think she's had enough. Let's bring 'er back." I handed Winston the reins and he led her to the camp while I rested on the saddle. Today sure was an interesting day.

I saw Riley comfortably sitting down in front of the camp, reading a comic book of some sorts. She spotted us and flung the comic away.

"How'd it go?" she inquired to Winston  
He chuckled, "Little lady's a natural, be galloping in no time."

I got off the white mare and walked over to Riley, "That was pretty cool, thanks."  
"Sure thing." she smiled.

Winston looked over at her and gave her a strict glare once again, "Now I'm sure this'll fall on deaf ears, but why don't you go home and _try_ to stay out of trouble?"

Riley smirked and placed a hand on her hip while holding up the other, "You have to get _caught_ to get into trouble."

"Now look-"

**BOOM!**

An ear-deafening sound interrupted our conversation, I looked up and found smoke and fire near the outskirts of the mall. Was that a missile or something?

"Shit. I gotta go find my unit." he cursed, mounting on an alarmed Princess. The mare snorted and trotted off, before the both of them could disappear from the mall Winston turned back to us.

"Riley, I'm not fucking around. Head back! _Now!_" he commanded, sounding more like the soldier he was. He yanked Princess back as I watched them speed off to God-knows-where.

"Maybe we should listen to him." I looked over at Riley – who appeared to be messing around with a gadget.

"Riley?" I called when she didn't respond.

"Hang on." she said.  
Because of her perspective I could see the gadget more clearly, it was a radio transmitter.

"Is that a walkie talkie?"  
"Shut up for a sec, I'm trying to figure this thing out."

I finally started to fit the pieces together. Why she brought me here, why she went through all the trouble to tell a soldier to teach me how to ride a horse. There had to be something behind it.

Suddenly, it was clear to me.  
It all made sense now.

She was _using _me.

..

..

"_OH MY GOD!_" I shouted angrily.

"You used me as a distraction so you could steal that from him! _THIS WHOLE TIME-_" but I was cut off by another voice.

"Explosion in twelfth sector...three hostile groups...engaging enemies...likely Firefly affiliation.." a voice said over the radio, we could hear rapid gunfire and shouts in the background. It was definitely a warzone in there.

"I didn't think it'd happen tonight. But this is it, this is the way out!" she exclaimed excitedly, ignoring my newly-fueled hatred at her "We're gonna find the Fireflies."

We stared at each other, Riley who was anticipating my reaction with a goofy smile plastered on her face and I, who was glaring at her with pursed lips and widened eyes.

"The Firefl-?!" I sputtered, "What're you, fucking _NUTS?_"  
Riley rolled her eyes and tucked the walkie talkie in her jacket.  
"Suit yourself." she shrugged and sprinted away to the direction of the smoke, leaving me behind in the dust.

_Okay,_ maybe I couldn't hate Riley. But I was still reluctant to join her and be this rebellious vigilante duo that she dreamed us to be. Then again, what would happen if I didn't go with her?

What if I had just stayed in my room and ignored those footsteps? I'd just pick fights, get into trouble, pick fights, scrub the floor, pick fights, repeat, move into another school, repeat. It was always like that for all these 13 years living in this shithole. This could be an open window to a fresh new start, and I was about to let it slip.

_Fuck it,_ I thought. And I ran off to the same direction, eventually catching up with Riley.

* * *

**Yeah, I think that's enough Flashbacks for now. It's surprising that we're actually going to reach 20 chapters soon and honestly I don't want to end this story. I don't know how long this fic is going to be but it shouldn't reach the 30th mark, I don't feel like dragging the story on despite how fun it is to write.**

**I promise to speed it up a bit, and I know a lot of you are itching for the two of them to meet. (So am I!)  
****Thank you so much for reading, leave a review for your thoughts about this chapter! 'Till the next one.  
-Taco**


	15. Martyr

**Chapter Fifteen: Martyr**

**Now the readers who've stayed here for a while are probably thinking: _Wait, why is it Chapter Fifteen? Shouldn't it be Seventeen?_  
****I have combined Chapter 1 & 2 and 5 & 6. I felt that the _Reconnecting_ chapter felt weird standing alone so I joined it with the first one. Same reason with _Deep Slumber._** **I also added some lines in the chapter _Comfort_ just to fluff up Ellie and Riley's relationship - for those who love it when they flirt with each other. Jeez.****  
**

**Anywho, on to reading. Thank you so much for everything! You guys are the best.**

* * *

**Riley's POV:**

"Reach up, I got you." I told her, offering my arm as she climbed up the scaffolding. The Infected could be heard from all directions, my heart raced wildly as the cries grew louder and louder.

But the weight of the structure fell on her and gave way, she started to fall backwards into the crowd of running Infected beneath us.

"Oh God-"

"Give me your hand!" I yelled, but it was too late. She fell on the lower platform with a large _thud._ The force knocked her again to a small puddle below, I watched in terror as I found her immobilized and helpless, unable to defend herself from the Runner that was closing in on her.

"Ellie!" I cried out.

I groped my gun frantically and aimed for the approaching Runner, a deafening bang filled my ears as I saw the monster fall before Ellie, a fountain of blood gushed all over from where its head used to be.

_That was too fucking close. _I thought.

"Jesus..." she muttered as she regained her senses, backing up to the large container behind her.

The mayhem wasn't over yet, I jumped off the window and went to her before the Infected could.  
I reached my hand out again "Quickly! Get up-"

But in a flash, another one of those Runners tackled my side, making me stumble to the ground with its jagged teeth aimed at me.

I blocked its jaws with my hand to prevent it from shredding my face, I used my nails to harmfully claw the sides of its cheek in defense before Ellie could assist me.

"Riley!" she yelled, running to my direction. She took out her switchblade and stabbed it from behind, proceeding to pull it backwards. She skillfully finished the Infected off by slicing its neck halfway. I goggled and panted heavily as the body fell to the ground, it's head hanging off limply.

_God, who would've known that she was capable of such things._

"I think it's clear..." she said, looking around for any more signs of Infected. I sighed loudly and rested on my back, Ellie walked over to me and offered a hand.  
"Here – let me bring you up."

Thankful, I reached out my arm, but as her emerald eyes darted to my outstretched palm she withdrew it back in a split second.

"Oh shit." she cursed. I stared at her eyes that were filled with dread and shock. My stomach churned as I began to realize why she was so alarmed.

I unwillingly traced my eyes to my left hand, my heart sunk as I found the horrid mark of the bite near my thumb. The fresh blood flowed out of the wound excessively for a moment.

…

"No.." I said, gripping my hand tightly.

_This wasn't happening, _I told myself. _This wasn't happening._

More blood seeped out from the wound and I wiped it off, only resulting to the same effect.  
"Please don't... no..." I shook my head rapidly.

Ellie's feet were planted firmly on the ground, unable to respond.

..

_This was it. _I thought.

_This was how it was going to end._

* * *

I awoke with a heavy gasp, the beads of sweat trailed down to my nose as I looked around frantically. My back was leaning on a wall and I was sitting cross-legged on the stone floor.

"Ellie?" I said to the darkness surrounding me. It took me a while to realize that she wasn't actually there – and that whatever I went through earlier didn't really happen.

I shook my head. _It wasn't real, I wasn't bitten._

_..  
.._

_It was just a fucking dream._

I took a deep breath and regained my senses, considering that I got knocked out for the hundredth time it took some time for me to remember what exactly happened. The pain that occurred near my abdomen was more than enough for me to recall.

But as I tried to cover my stomach with my hands, I realized that someone had tied my wrists together with several layers of duct tape. _Duct tape._ I would've expected something more efficient like handcuffs, but I guess they didn't have any. Although it was a makeshift and crude way of dealing with hostages I still couldn't break free from the ties.

I gazed out of the tiny window and the small rays of moonlight sprinkled on the floor – I was most likely in a basement.

"Fucking great." I hissed, the Hunters probably brought us to their hideout after I was unconscious, surprised that they didn't kill us when they had the chance.

But before I could start thinking of an escape plan, I heard a soft grunt on the opposite side of the room. It was too dark to perceive whatever was there, but I could make out a shadowy figure move slightly at the other corner of the basement.

"Is someone there?" I whispered, afraid to move towards the shadow.

The figure stirred again, this time a voice followed it shortly after.

"Riley..?" it coughed "Is that...you..?"

The voice was recognizable – it was Leon. I stood up from my position and walked over to him. His face could now be observable, his clothes were splattered with red and there was blood dripping down his nose.

"Christ, what did they do to you?" I asked, examining his beaten frame.

Leon wheezed and straightened his back, his wrists were also tied with the duct tape.  
"...Give me a second.." he said.

I sat casually beside him and gave him some time to focus. Leon sighed and faced me again.

"They kind of whooped my ass back there... when you were unconscious. I thought... I thought you were dead for sure."

"Yeah, for some reason I seem to have some kind of resurrection powers within me." I joked. Leon cleared his throat and began to explain what had happened.

"After you were uh, knocked out, I remember seeing Dad getting Gavin's rifle and shooting the two guys that were holding me back."

_So those were the gunshots that I've heard_. I was afraid that whoever cried out those howls were Darius and Leon.

"And then... the horseman... he got your pistol and shot us. More of them came, there were tons. They dragged us to this place and... yeah. They didn't seem to be too happy with Gavin dead."

"He shot you?"  
"No, Riley. He fucking squirted me with his water gun."

I ignored his bitter sarcasm, "Let me see."

He shrugged and nodded to his right leg, it was smudged with dark red with a small puddle of blood below it.  
"Oh, wow." I said "How about your Dad?"

"I-I don't know. Shit, he needs to be alive... he has to be... I don't know what I would do if he..." Leon shook his head "Oh, crap."

"We'll find him." I assured him.  
"Pfft." he shook his head again  
"What?"

"_We'll find him_. Sure. What are you going to do? There's probably like a dozen of those Hunters upstairs."  
"I was trying to comfort you, dickwad."

Leon groaned. "Oh my God. Let's just get out of here, please."  
I looked around the dark area, there didn't seem to be a sharp object to help me cut the duct tape, I turned back to Leon.

"Do you have a knife or something?" I asked.  
He furrowed his brows and bit his lip, "Yeah, it's in my back pocket. Shame that my hands are tied together, I guess we're just going to die here, huh?"  
I rolled my eyes "Just lay off, I can reach it if you would move a little."

"Does it involve moving my injured leg?"  
"No." I replied annoyingly.  
"Okay. I think I'm capable."

Leon turned his body to the right, I faced my back towards him and allowed my hands that were tied at the back to reach for his back pocket.

I finally felt the handle of the knife, "Bingo."  
Leon returned to his original position and I handed him the knife.  
"Alright, I need you to cut the duct tape first." I told him, gesturing to my hands.

He willingly complied and grunted as he leaned forward with his right leg. After a while he was finally able to set it free.

I wrung my wrists together. "Ah, that's much better." I said, flexing my arms from the lack of movement.  
"Can you cut mine now?" Leon asked with annoyance  
I spun to his direction. "Oh, right."

After doing so, I tossed the crumpled duct tape away and straightened up. I helped Leon get on his feet with the injured leg he had with him and climbed up the stairs.

"Fucking leg." he hissed.  
"Just try and deal with it for a while. We'll find some bandages and antibiotics to disinfect it later." I said.

We walked over to the basement door, holding our breaths in hope that it hadn't been locked.

Fortunately for us, it was exactly what we bargained for.

"You'd think they'd lock the door, but I guess the duct tape was enough to convince them." he chuckled.

I opened the door slightly and peeked through, checking for any Hunters in the perimeter. After spotting none, I closed it quietly and faced Leon.

"Okay. We're going to have to stay quiet as possible, _make no sound_. Got it?  
"Yeah."  
"Absolutely quiet, like a ninja."  
"Mhm."  
"Then we're gonna go and check if Darius is in the-"

Leon rolled his eyes, "Riley. I know the drill, I've done this with Dad way too many times."

"Did it involve getting shot and locked in a room?"  
He paused for a while "Okay, that was a first. But you get what I mean."

I gave a half-chuckle and crouched as I opened the door halfway. Leon told me that he was able to walk on his own for the time-being. I took a deep breath and nodded at him,

"Let's do this."

* * *

**Ellie's POV:**

"Holy shit." I gasped.

..

"She's infected."

Joel's eyes widened in disbelief as he turned to Tess. Her gaze was downcast, but as she looked up to confront him they were filled with distraught. Basically it was her way of saying that it was true.

..

She was bitten.

Joel took a breath and distanced himself from Tess. Not because she was Infected, but because he was taken aback by the truth.  
"Joel..." she mumbled.

"Let me see it." he said in a volume that was barely audible.  
"I didn't mean for this-"  
"Show it to me." he repeated in a more louder tone.

She glared at him and grabbed her collar, lifting it up to unveil the large bite mark nearing the right side of her neck. It was a gruesome bite, small sprouts of fungi were already spreading through her body.

"Oh, Christ." he breathed, dumbstruck.

I stood there watching their little scene, being as shocked as Joel knowing that it would only be a matter of time before she turned.

Before she became one of them.

"_Oops_, right?" she said rhetorically. Tess turned to face me, her forlorn look was replaced by a stern one and I was startled by her sudden movement.

"Give me your arm." she ordered. She quickly grabbed it and unrolled the sleeve that shielded the public's eyes from my secret.

"This was three weeks." she said, walking over to him "I was bitten an hour ago and it's already worse. _This is fucking real,_ Joel."

Tess released my arm and I stretched it a little due to her tightened grip. I rolled the sleeve back and continued on watching.

"You've got to get this girl to Tommy's." Tess said, it was more of an instruction rather than a plea "He used to run with this crew he'll know where to go."  
"No, no, no that was _your_ damn crusade." Joel objected. "I am not doin' that-"

"Yes you are."  
"Look." Tess said as she neared him. "There's enough _here_ that you have to feel some sort of obligation to me - s_o you get her to Tommy's._"

Joel couldn't face her, he couldn't bring himself to look back.

It was all too much, even for me.

The sounds of a rolling truck interrupted the conversation and I looked out the window, a military vehicle was stopping in front of the building.

"Shit." Joel hissed.

The soldiers hopped out of the truck and marched towards the stairs.

"Watch the exit!" they yelled as they started to climb up.  
"They're here." Tess said, bringing out her gun.

"Dammit."  
"I can buy you some time but you have to run."

I widened my eyes, _what the hell was she doing?_

"You want us to just leave you here?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes."

Joel finally faced her, refusing the decision of sacrifice "There is _no way _that-"  
"I will _not_ turn into one of those things!" she snapped back.

There was a pause, I felt uneasy as I heard the shuffling of the soldiers outside the door.

"Come on." she said softly. "Make this easy for me."

Joel turned to the door, unsure of how to respond.  
"I can fight-"  
Tess pushed him back, stopping him from going any closer.  
"N-No, just go!"

..

"Just fucking go." she whispered, trying desperately to hide her emotions. She didn't deserve this. No one deserved _any_ of this.

Joel swallowed a lump and spoke softly, his voice crumbling but stern "Ellie."  
This was all my fault.

Did I just take lives of those whom I cared about? Even if I've met them for a little while, I actually cared about Tess. But it was too late. She was too late to be saved.

"I'm sorry I didn't – I didn't mean for any of this." I stammered, the burden of another life was on my shoulders. How far was it going to go before I would be broken down?

"Get a move on." he ordered, his eyes never left hers. I ran ahead, opening the double doors and looking back as Joel followed my tail.

I gazed at Tess, she breathed heavily and exhaled. She turned to the entrance doors as she lifted her gun, ready to face the fate that would soon confront her in a matter of minutes.

I looked away and closed the door.

..

That was the last time I saw her alive.

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen will be released soon. Thank you very much for reading!  
****-Taco**


	16. Fear

**Chapter Sixteen: Fear**

**I'm so sorry for not posting a chapter in a while, life was in the way.**  
**But no matter, here's the chapter, so enjoy!**

* * *

**Riley's POV:**

Shadows.  
That was what we were. Nothing but shadows.

The door creaked open softly, the faint light from the candle in the outside area seeped into the basement and down the stairs. The living room was thankfully empty, I looked back at Leon who was leaning awkwardly on one leg.

"What's the plan?" he asked in a low voice.

..

Almost inconveniently, the familiarity in his tone reminded me of a memory not too long ago._  
_

I blinked slowly, and as I opened them again Leon was no longer there. Instead, a girl much younger than him – probably by 3 years – was in his position. Her fading light auburn hair complemented her emerald eyes that pierced the darkness with its glow.

The walls were no longer made of cement but of white and yellow tarpaulin. The candle light became the afternoon sun and the air was unbelievably humid. The girl wore a recognizable striped tank while I had my old apparel on, a part of her right arm was bandaged; we were back at the carnival.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was her.  
_It was Ellie._

..

"What's the plan?" she asked the same question and I gawked at her, unable to respond, the delicate rustles of the grass was an indication that soldiers were nearby, but I couldn't care less about our imaginary impending doom.

"I..." I said uncouthly, still goggling at her. These phantasms were growing wilder by the day, it needed to stop.

I gulped and closed my eyes.

"Stop imagining things, Riley." I whispered to myself. "Focus. Come on."

A sharp ringing went through my head, causing my eyes to open abruptly. Ellie was no longer there, the environment surrounding me had changed as well, I wasn't at the carnival.

She wasn't here.

..

"What the hell are you doing?" Leon interrupted me as he snorted brazenly.

I turned to him, "Huh?"  
"You were like, talking to yourself for about 10 seconds."

"No I wasn't." I lied, suddenly becoming conscious of my actions.

"I'm pretty sure you did."  
I rolled my eyes, "Don't you ever do anything else other than being a useless sack of blabber?"

"_Excuse me?" _he said. "Who was the one who helped you cut that stupid duct ta-" But I cut him off as I clamped my hand on the outer rings of his mouth, muffling his voice in the process.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Leon, let's just focus here. Arguing won't do anything." I told him sternly. He sighed as I yanked my hand back, nodding slightly at my suggestion.

"Great. Anyway, you see that room outside?" I whispered.

He nodded again.

"We're going to use the couches as cover. Then if we're close enough we gotta reach to the second floor, your father'll probably be there."

"My leg's going to be a problem." Leon said unwillingly.  
"There should be some medical stuff upstairs, but for now you gotta deal with it, sorry."

He groaned softly and opened the door, being the first one to go out into the living room. I held my breath in anticipation as I heard the wooden floor creak due to his footing.

He scanned the area and beckoned to me, giving me a thumbs up, c_oast was clear_.

I closed the door softly and crept as silently as possible over to him.  
"Our guns have to be here somewhere." I muttered as I reached him.  
Leon rubbed his chin in thought, "Could probably be upstairs."

"Well the thing is, I don't fucking know where the stairs are, hell it's too dark for me to see anything beyond the living room."  
"I thought you had a flashlight, use that." he sneered. "If you don't mind blowing our cover, that is."

I pouted and looked around, we needed a light source that wasn't bright enough for anyone to notice. My brain clicked as I realized that there was a white taper candle sitting comfortably on the dusty coffee table. It's glow was illuminating the center of the room generously.

"That works." I said as I pointed at it.  
"Ah!" Leon exclaimed as he grabbed the candle. "Sweet."

"I'll walk ahead, these hallways are pretty short anyway." he said quietly as he lighted the way.

We tiptoed towards the hallway with Leon at the front and I at the back. The lack of hunters was rather unsettling than assuring, I wiped my forehead with my arm as I felt beads of sweat starting to form slowly on my skin.

We decided to head over to the kitchen (which was unsurprisingly abandoned as well) and poked around the area. The unappealing stench of rotten uncertainties lingered in the room, stubbornly refusing to dissipate. Leon placed the candle in a glass as we scavenged some food that the hunters have carelessly left lying about.

I grabbed the victuals quickly, having a sudden urge to leave the foul-smelling place.

"Jesus." I said, covering my nose as I grabbed an energy bar. "It smells like a mixture of vomit and... oh, god-" I gagged, closing my mouth shut with one hand.  
Leon raised a hand at me. "Riley, don't even _think_ about throwing up. Just breathe through your mouth."

"Are you kidding me? Have you tried breathing in through your mouth? You can _literally_ taste the shi-"  
"Shut up. Just shut up." he said, resisting the urge to barf as well.

I couldn't take it anymore, the stench was unbearable. We took all the edibles we could find and darted out of the kitchen whilst clutching our throats.

"Okay..." Leon inhaled sharply.  
"Okay." I said.

...

"The guns?" he suggested.

I nodded back.  
"The guns."

* * *

**Flashback #6**

After following Riley out of the mall we were back on the road, the faint sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard several blocks away from us. I was starting to rethink my actions and even considered to ditch her while she wasn't looking.

But I didn't.  
I was beginning to wonder if I really was getting as demented as her.

"Sooo... any chance of convincing you that this is a _really _bad idea?" I said, scratching my neck.

Riley toyed with the radio transmitter, turning the nobs several times to try and get a good signal.  
"No chance in hell."

After a couple of tries she finally got the signal, static came out of the other side followed by a voice and other shouts of distress.

"Engaging hostiles at MacMillan and Jordan. Send those goddamn reinforcements_ now!_" a soldier said over the rapid gunshots. Another whirl cracked through the air, and an explosion rumbled the road that we stood on.

Riley tucked the radio in her jacket. "MacMillan and Jordan... that's only a few blocks from here." she said as she hurried off. I sighed and tailed her, imagining the consequences if we ever got into trouble, or worse.

"Riley," I said, grabbing her arm. "These people have _killed_ soldiers. You sure you know what you're doing?"

She grunted, "We'll stick to the rooftops, we'll be completely out of harm's way."

I gave her an unconvinced look, she rolled her eyes and placed her hands on my shoulders. Although this action was in no way lascivious, I blushed at the sudden contact.

"Trust me." she said sternly, removing her hands from my shoulders.

I nodded awkwardly and were we off, dashing from one block to another until we were finally on the designated roads. Riley and I climbed a ladder to the roof of a building, allowing us to view the warfare from a safe distance.

It was definitely a hellhole down there. My ears were ringing constantly from the _ratatatats_ of the gunfire and the continuous detonation of frags. I looked over at both sides, it was obvious that the military soldiers were handling this one quite well.

The other group was cornered, they were using the obstacles and the hazy smoke as cover. Several of the people were wounded, only a few were chosen to attack the opposite side. Despite the abundance of smoke, it wasn't enough to give them a chance to flee.

"Fireflies." Riley said. "And they're trapped, we've gotta help them."  
I raised an eyebrow. "How?"  
"Smoke bombs." she replied, bringing out yet another object out of her jacket.

"What?" I retorted in disbelief.

As if I thought she couldn't hold any more materials inside of that magical jacket, she took out another smoke bomb and handed it to me. "One for me and one for you." I was reluctant to take it.

"Riley..." I took a breath, "This isn't like sneaking out, someone can get hurt."

She gave me an assuring glance. "They won't. We're gonna give them an opening to run. That's all."  
I stared at the can, still deciding whether I should receive it or not.

"Look," Riley spoke up, as if reading my mind "This is a shot at changing _our_ fate. Are you just gonna let them keep controlling your life?" she asked.

"_Or will you fight for something else?_"

…

…

As I weighed my options, Riley had a point, I was definitely tired. Tired of doing the same routine over and over again. Nothing would happen in my life if I just stood there and allowed things to happen. As corny as it sounded, I needed to do something about it.

What else did I have to lose?

I paused momentarily and looked at Riley, she was patiently waiting for my decision. I furrowed my eyebrows and gulped, _there was a first time for everything.  
_"Screw it." I said, and I took the smoke bomb out of her hand.

_What was the worst thing that could happen?  
_

* * *

**Riley's POV:**

If there was one thing about this house that I didn't like, it was the eeriness. Why would they just dump us in here without anyone else guarding the inside? Why hadn't they just killed us when they had the chance? It was confusing, but there was only one way to find out.

Leon and I crept up the staircase, the house only had two floors, Darius had to be in one of the rooms.

As we arrived, the atmosphere was damp and dusty. Walls of paintings were lined up on the sides of the hallway, each portrait adding to the general creepiness of the whole place.

"I never understood art." Leon muttered, gazing at a picture.

We opened the first door to our left slowly, the room revealed walls and floors of white tiles, a broken mirror, a sink and a bathtub. Above the sink was a medicine closet, in which Leon hoped that there would be anything of use inside.

I opened the cabinet, unfortunately, there was nothing but a cobweb sticking out from a corner. I scrunched my nose as I spotted a spider right at the center of the web, I closed the cabinet and gave the bug some peace.  
"Of course, that'd be too easy." I said annoyingly.

Leon grumbled and limped out of the comfort room, checking the next door to our right.  
But as he entered, he took a step back and gasped, somehow shocked at whatever was inside the room.

"Jesus Christ."

..

"What?" I asked curiously, afraid to see for myself.  
Leon eventually opened the door wide enough for the both of us to see, I widened my eyes in disgust, appalled by the scene before me.

"Oh my god."

Bodies. Several of them, there were so many. They were piled up on one another, most mangled, deformed, and even amputated. Splatters of blood filled the walls and furniture, there were entrails littering the floor, an unbearable stench filled my nostrils, one that was much more worse than the last. Not because of the smell, but becase of where it came from. My whole body shuddered as I imagined how these bodies ended up so... _twisted._

But what was even more horrifying, was that these corpses weren't infected.

They were human corpses.

"D-did the hunters do all this..?" I stammered, backing away from the room.

"I... I've never seen anything like this... it's just... Fuck." he said.

It was a scene that would be forever etched into my mind. Something that I thought would only happen in nightmares. No, it was real. These people were capable of doing such horrible things. Things that not even an Infected could do.

And the thought of that was what scared me the most.

..

..

"This..." Leon muttered.  
"This would've been us..."

I turned to him, "Huh?"

He shook his head, "Those hunters... they probably... ambushed all of these people, like what happened to us. And then they tie 'em up and bring 'em up here."

"Then... they..." he stopped, not wanting to finish.  
He sighed, "It's like some sick fucking trophy room..."

Leon fluttered his eyes to rest and closed the door, blocking the gruesome view.

…

…

...

"We need to find my dad." he finally said, voice still shaking from earlier.

"We haven't checked all of the rooms yet." I said involuntarily, if that room had a bunch of bodies in it, I was scared shitless to know what the others might have inside.

"Yeah, okay. We can check 'em out-"

As if right on timing, a noise could be heard from downstairs.

We froze dead on our tracks as we heard a door open slowly yet loudly, like someone was giving the time for us to process what was happening. The slow creak was unbelievably loud, and what was even more unbelievable was that it could be heard from upstairs. My heart had stopped as I realized that we weren't alone.

Someone was in the house.

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen to be released soon, feedback is much greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!  
-Taco**


End file.
